Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle
by C M Forde
Summary: The fans say: "I'm in a coughing fit at the moment from laughing while drinking soda." "LOL very funny and so original" "The plot is a little silly but the story grabs you." "Add three inches in just two weeks!" Oops, that last one was just spam.
1. The Black Wolf Stylist

**Disclaimer**: I don't own these characters leave me alone! I never did anything to you!

Rain splattered down on the streets, amassing puddles and pelting the once sunny world into wet smelly submission. In the darkness of an alley, a man in a brown trench coat watched the passing cars running through the wet streets, and ducked his head to light the cigarette dangling out of his mouth. After a few test runs he remembered that it wasn't a cigarette in his mouth, he had stopped smoking a while ago, but the habit still forced itself on him sometimes. No, where there had once been a cigarette oh so many months ago, now there dangled a fishbone, a fishbone with a charred end after he had tried to light it for the third time tonight.

The man was tall and muscular, with dark eyes that seemed to encompass all of the misery of the world and turn it backwards and inside out, just twisting it around until it was no longer what it used to be. A dark red headband was pulled tightly around his scalp at his hairline, a kind of threat to those who knew what it really symbolized. And above this headband, perched beyond that tiny piece of fabric was a sight of magnificence. Standing high above his head, seeming to reach for the heavens was what looked to be a wicked mess of black hair angling around in every direction at once, but if the trained eye looked closely they would see the detail in the style, the way every strand was carefully cut and placed, held together with just the right amount of hair spray, moose, and styling gel. It was the hairstyle of the Gods, and the man knew it. For this man was Sagara Sanosuke, and he was a hair stylist.

**Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:**

**A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction**

by

C M Forde

Six Months Earlier:

"Sano!" Before he could turn around he felt himself suddenly get much heavier as a pair of small arms wrapped around his neck, and legs around his waist. He pitched forward and feel flat on his face as the woman on his back rode him straight to the ground. "Hehe...oops. Sorry about that sweetums..."

Sano just groaned, "Misao, I know you love me and everything, but these surprise attacks are really messing up my hair..." He felt the weight on his back lighten and he rolled over to look up at his girlfriend standing above him. A lot of his friends thought it was weird that a college aged man like himself was dating a high school girl, including Misao's parents. Which is why as far as they knew he was her tutor. The girl was very pretty, with ice blue eyes and dark hair that was cut mostly short except for a single dark braid dangling down her back. She was still dressed in her uniform, with the green miniskirt and sailor outfit that Sano just couldn't resist, and those knee socks were just kinky. The man smiled up at her brilliantly, "This is a really nice view Misao, I didn't know you had any black panties."

"Baka Hentai!" He received a swift kick to the side of the head from his underage girlfriend before she squatted down on his chest with a happy smile, "So what's the 'tutoring' for today? You're not gonna try that sex-ed lesson again are ya?"

Sano rubbed his already bruising scalp and shook his head, "You think I'm dumb enough to try that again? I do want to have children eventually you know, and repeated strikes to the groin are not the best way to ensure my seed takes root."

Misao blushed, "Children? You want to be the father of my children? That's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me Sano!" He grinned, he hadn't actually meant it that way, but if she wanted to take it that way it was all cool to him. More points on his side of the board. "But it was still perverted."

After the third time Sano caught Misao's fist with his nose a voice rang out from behind him, "Hey Sano! Misao!" It was Karou, Misao's best friend, and her foreign exchange student boyfriend Kenshin. Sano really didn't see what she saw in him, he was short, scrawny, pale, had an ugly scar on his face, couldn't crack a joke to save his life, and had the ugliest hairstyle in the world. It just looked so lazy, yanked back in that ponytail like that, with hair that startlingly red Sano would have figured the guy would at least have taken some time to try and make it look decent. Hell, the guy had to spend something like three thousand yen a week on hair coloring to keep it that shade. Karou on the other hand had great hair, and despite how it looked, Sano knew she had to spend a good hour and a half a day getting the ribbon to sit just right on her head. "So what'd you say this time Sano?"

Misao halted her beating long enough to hop off of Sano and give her friend a warm hug, "Ooh I didn't see you today in PE, where were you?"

Karou blushed slightly and Kenshin looked around like he didn't know what any of them were talking about. Sano just sat up and laughed, "Oh I get it, you guys were getting your own kind of physical education going on huh? Ken you dog you, I never thought you had it in you." The red headed Scottish exchange student immediately put up his hands and started mumbling incoherently about something that sounded like a lame excuse while his girlfriend just blanched and looked like she was about to pass out from blood loss.

But they were both saved by Misao's spinning roundhouse kick that knocked Sano back down to the ground, "Baka! Mind your own business!"

"I do mind my own business, twice a day since I'm not allowed to mind yours." More of the savage beating continued unchecked while Karou and Kenshin watched in pure amazement. Who knew that the human body could take such a beating and still manage to spout off perverted comments that just invited more pain? When it finally ceased, Misao had run out of juice about thirty seconds into the figure four leg lock, Sano sat up and slowly massaged his hair, "Alright, still good. It's gonna take more than that to mess you up isn't it buddy?"

His girlfriend was on her keister gasping for breath, "I swear you love your hair more than you love me..." She wheezed, "At least you treat it better anyway..."

Sano looked over at Misao and then shot to his feet, yanking the young girl up into his arms and bringing her face up next to his as he stared into her eyes, "You know that's not true. My hair is my pride, but you are my heart and my soul. I would give you the sun and the moon, the stars up in heaven if I could reach them, and present them to you as tokens of our love. When I look deeply into your eyes I can see myself reflected in those endless pools of blue and it makes me happy, because I want to be there, in those eyes, for as long as you can stand to look at me. You are the only thing that matters to me Misao, I would shave my head if you asked, but I know that you wouldn't because you love me so much."

She blushed deeply and found herself suddenly breathless, "Oh...Sano I..."

He shook his head, "No, don't speak. Let our kiss say more than words ever could." And in that moment he pressed his lips against hers and she nearly swooned, he was so romantic sometimes. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled herself up into the deep sensuous kiss that he provided for her. It lasted for a lifetime while Karou and Kenshin stared dumbstruck, and when it finally broke it took long seconds for Misao to regain her breath. Then she slowly broke away from him, hand to her chest as she felt her heart flutter, and immediately yanked Karou off and away to go have chat with her about how utterly romantic and cool that was.

While the girls were off doing their thing Kenshin looked up at Sano, "That was really touching. I never thought of you as one for poetry and romance, you really surprised me today Sano."

He shrugged, "I memorized that line from a romance novel, works every time. Those things are great when you need some kind of BS to get you out of the frying pan, or if you just want to get into her pants." Sano turned to look at Kenshin, who had just completed an Olympic quality face vault and smiled, "Now don't get me wrong, I think Misao is great, I really do, but sometimes ya need a little help to keep the romance alive. You understand right?"

Kenshin pulled himself off of the floor and sighed, "Yeah right..."

Sano shrugged and then nudged Kenshin with an elbow, "So Karou... What's she like huh?"

Kenshin blinked, "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. She looks all tight laced and stuff, but I bet she's a freak when the clothes come off huh? Is she a biter? She looks like a biter."

Whatever Kenshin was going to say, if he was going to say anything, was interrupted as the girls came back, both of them blushing beautifully. Misao was staring dreamy eyed at Sano while Karou looked kind of...angy. As soon as she was within reach of Kenshin her foot lashed out and nailed him right in the shin, which caused him to go hopping around on one leg wildly. "Why don't you ever say anything romantic like that to me you jerk? And quit hopping around like that, you look like a fire hydrant on a pogo stick."

"Sagara... Sagara Sanosuke am I correct?" The voice was cold as steel, monotone and deadly sharp, and it drew Sano's attention immediately. Standing behind him was a man easily as tall as he was, dressed all in black. His face was handsome in a very strange way, and somehow the wrinkles around his mouth and eyes created a strange X shape. But that isn't what drew Sano's attention, it was the four thin bangs that hung over the man's face in ideal unmoving beauty. The perfect balance of everything, they caught the light and reflected it while simultaneously absorbing it, and even as a brisk wind blew they stood absolutely still. They were a masterwork of hair care.

"Yeah, I'm Sanouske..." He couldn't draw his eyes away from that perfect hair, the man was an expert, or his stylist was. And despite his own hair's magnificence, he couldn't be sure that it could stand up to those four omnipotent bangs. "Who are you?"

"I have heard of your hair from an acquaintance. I see he was not mistaken, it is quite good." Slowly the man pulled a cigarette from his jacket and pressed it between his lips before lighting it with a box of matches, the classic way. Sano himself used a zippo, but that wasn't the issue. With bangs like that the hair spray used had to be still lingering in the air around his face, bringing a match that close to those bangs should have caused a massive fireball to erupt around the man's head, but nothing happened.

"How did you do that?"

The man just smiled, "Ahou..."

Sano was starting to get angry, there was no way someone could do something like that, it was completely impossible. Hair did not get that good without consequences, "Tell me! What do you use to keep your bangs like that!"

After a short puff of smoke the man grinned and reached inside of his jacket before producing a small green bottle, no label on it, it was obviously home made. Sano let out a gasp while Misao clutched tightly to his arm, unable to draw her eyes away from the silent man with the bottle. Karou and Kenshin were likewise speechless, just watching The man finally spoke. "It's my own special product, created and used solely by me, no one else knows the recipe. I call it, Gattoutsu."

Misao let out a loud gasp, but Sano just laughed, "Heh... I should have guessed. You're a pro, you wouldn't use anything just sold at a salon, but it doesn't scare me. Nothing can match up to my..." He yanked out a pristine crystal vial filled with a blueish liquid from his own pocket, "Futai no Kiwami!"

The man just smirked, "You think so do you? Well, we'll see. Meet me tomorrow at four at the Kamiya Hair Salon, we'll see who's better." He flicked his cigarette down to the ground and began to walk way, and Misao had to hold Sano back from running up there and ruffling the man's hair. No one threatened Sagara Sanosuke and got away with it. Nobody.

"Hey, isn't that your salon Karou?" Everybody turn when Kenshin spoke, and for the first time Sano saw the look on Karou's face, the pure terror of her features still etched around her beautiful eyes. Slowly she swallowed and nodded, all of the blood gone from her face, as if she had just seen a ghost. Kenshin seemed worried about his girlfriend, "Karou are you alright? Do you know that man?"

With a voice barely over a low whisper she answered, "That was... Hajime Saitou, ten years ago in the Salon wars he was known as the black wolf stylist. His Gattoutsu hair product is legendary, no one has ever found anything that could beat it. I met him once, he visited my father's salon and challenged him to a duel. My father never recovered, I was only five at the time but I remember it like it was yesterday. He's a demon Sano, a demon!" Her eyes went crazy after that and she rushed him, grabbing onto his jecket, "Don't do this! He'll destroy you!"

After Misao yanked Karou off with some exclamation about keeping her dirty hands on her own man Sano smiled and straightened his jacket. "Don't worry about me, I'm not afraid of him. No one's ever beat my Futai no Kiwami, and no one ever will."

Author's Note: And so begins the epic saga of love, jealousy, mystery, bloodshed and hair. Next time, Sano and Saitou duel it out in the Kamiya Hair Salon. Will Sano prevail? Or will the Balck Wolf Stylist claim another victim in his reign of terror? Who is the mysterious woman who will try and steal Sano's heart away from Misao? Will Kenshin have more than just two lines? Will Misao ever stop punching her boyfriend? Will any more of the Kenshin-gumi show up? Stay tuned for part two: Duel at Four!


	2. Duel at Four

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except an odd sense of humor!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction

by

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"Oh God yes! Just like that!"

"Misao, it's so tight."

"Just do it harder Sano!"

"It's too tight, I can't."

"Work it! Just work it!"

"It's starting to loosen up."

"Yes Sano, more more! Do it harder!"

"There, it's coming I can feel it."

"Me too, it's coming Sano, it's coming! Don't stop!"

Karou and Kenshin just stared at the pair with blank features tinted red with blush. Misao was seated in one of the chairs of the Kamiya hair salon, and Sano was behind her tugging at the end of her braid, trying to get the knot out of the tie at the end. With one final mighty tug Sano tore the piece of fabric free and fell back onto the floor gasping for breath. Misao turned around and looked down at him, "God, are you tired already? I swear, you have no stamina Sano."

Karou glared at her boyfriend, "Don't say a word short stack."

"Oro?"

It was 4:12 PM, the black wolf stylist was running late and Misao had been griping about her braid for the last half hour so Sano had to do something about it. The tall man pulled himself off of the floor and shook his head, "It's not that I have no stamina, it's that getting that thing off is a major workout."

She crossed her arms, "Well if that's the way you feel then I'll just get it off myself from now on."

"Honey, you know you can't by yourself, I have to have a go at it or it never gets off."

Karou, "Is there something wrong with this conversation Kenshin?"

"Not really, unless I help you can't get off eith-" The redheaded man's mouth was forcibly plugged with a bottle of hair spray before he could complete his sentence. Sano and Misao stared awkwardly at the unconscious foreign student and the dark haired woman who was currently acting just a bit too innocent for her own good. Gears started to slowly clank around in Sano's head, and eventually he would've gotten to what Kenshin had been talking about had his thoughts not been interrupted by a loud shout.

"Sano!"

He spun around, finger out thrust towards the doorway, "Hajime Saitou, the Black Wolf Stylist, I am ready to accept your challenge! Prepare to meet your fate at the hands of your better!"

"What're you talking about?"

"Yahiko?" Sano's little brother was standing in the entrance of the salon holding a box of doughnuts and looking very confused. Sano had totally forgotten that he had asked Yahiko to stop by and bring them all some dinner, he hadn't had a chance to eat since this morning, spending all day getting ready for this duel. Even Misao had been worried about him, and Misao hardly ever worried about anything, or at least she didn't seem to. "Oh, alright! You brought us some dinner. This Saitou guy still hasn't shown up yet, I bet he chickened out."

Karou shook her head, "I doubt that, The Black Wolf Stylist has never backed down from a challenge, he'll be here."

Sano just laughed, "Yeah, whatever. Anyway Yahiko, bring me some of that grub."

"Kenshin!" The doughnut box was dropped to the floor as the kid dashed past his brother and knelt beside the fallen man. "What happened to you?" With a hard tug he freed the bottle of hair spray from Kenshin's mouth and lifted his head off the ground, "Who could have done this to Kenshin?"

"She did." Karou immediately batted Misao's pointing finger away.

"Kenshin, don't worry. I'll avenge this. I'll find out who did this and I'll make them pay." Tears were already welling up in Yahiko's eyes, but all of the melodrama was cut short as the door to the salon closed with a loud thump. Sano turned, half a doughnut sticking out of his mouth and his dark eyes fell upon Saitou. The man was dressed exactly the same as he had been at the time of the challenge, his facial expression hadn't even changed.

All of time seemed to stand still as the man's eyes slowly took in the salon, stopping for a short instant on Karou with a slight grin. "Miss Kamiya, I haven't seen you in ten years. How's your father doing?"

"He's dead you jerk! He never recovered form his duel with you, you're a monster!" Misao barely caught the other woman before she took after Saitou with her bare hands. Sano didn't want to think what would've happened if Karou had tried to strike the man, but he was sure that she wouldn't have enjoyed the consequences.

"It figures, he was weak. And only the strong survive after all." The man passed his gaze onto Sano, "You're the one I came for Ahou, are you prepared to lose?"

Sano scoffed, "I don't think so old man. I'm going to show you what real hairstyling is."

A slight smirk, "Just don't cry when I break you like a twig. Now where's the subject?"

Sano froze, the subject! He knew he had forgotten something. In all styling duels there was a subject, someone whose hair would be manipulated by the duelers. It had completely slipped his mind. Saitou locked his eyes on Misao and started to speak when Sano interrupted him, "No, not her!" He couldn't subject her to the tortures of a styling duel, not her gorgeous perfect hair, he didn't trust this Saitou one bit. Who knew what he would do to her, no he had to find someone who could withstand the rigors of the match, and who wouldn't protest no matter what the pair did to him. Someone with an iron will, nerves of steel, and enough hair to turn into a masterpiece. Within thirty seconds Kenshin was seated in the chair in front of the mirror. Sano had tried to get Karou to do it, but she had screamed and ranted, so he picked Kenshin because the red headed man was still unconscious and thus couldn't protest the decision.

The two stylists stood on either side of the now smocked Kenshin, and Saitou spoke, "I'll let you have the first move Ahou, it should save us all time when you cut off his ear and finish this for me."

Sano gritted his teeth, the nerve of this guy, acting like that. "Don't worry Sano, he's just trying to psyche you out! You're the best!" The reassuring sound of his girlfriend's voice brought a smile to his face and he snatched a comb from the antiseptic receptacle and slowly dragged it through the still unconscious Kenshin's hair.

Saitou just frowned, "I've seen better technique from three year old girls."

Sano growled, "Yeah? Well why don't you just shut your ugly face and get to styling, or are you all talk?" The other man said nothing as he picked up a pair of scissors and began to snip around Kenshin's head. The movements were swift and precise, but it didn't even seem like he was cutting him, the scissors were just beside the hair, but weren't actually touching it. Misao started to laugh, but Sano knew better, he watched as tiny snippets of hair fell with each snip, alterations in the length so tiny that only a master stylist could have even seen them. This guy was good, he was really good. When Saitou stopped Sano immediately went to work himself, grabbing the scissors that were still warm from the touch of the other stylist and brought them to work. Where Saitou had been meticulous and subtle, Sano was blatant and bold, cutting off wild stretches of crimson locks that fell to the floor in torrents. Everyone in the shop was holding their breath, everyone but Saitou, who was lighting a cigarette.

"Are you done yet Ahou?"

Sano pulled back his scissors with a smirk, "Yeah, I'm done. You're up." Kenshin's hair had gone from long and wild to much shorter and evenly cut, Sano had no doubts in his skills, he was good, he was damned good. Saitou grabbed a container of hair gel and squirted some directly onto his hands before running powerful fingers through Kenshin's hair, scrambling up the mass of red and turning it into a rat's nest of tangled strands. When he pulled away Sano was left in awe of the work, it seemed so disheveled and torn, but Sano could tell that it was in fact done to precise specifications. No amount of wind would tear that hair down, but a heavy rainfall could still dampen it. It was good, it was damned good, but it wasn't perfect.

He took a deep breath and looked over at Saitou, who was smoking smugly, content that he had already beaten the young stylist, but Sano wasn't about to give up. He tore open a bottle of moose and sprayed it down upon Kenshin's head, slamming his hands into the mass and reworking it, altering the subtle manipulations Saitou had done without harming the style itself. That was one of the most important rules of styling duels, you could not harm the style, you could only improve upon what the other had done. If you were unable to improve upon it, the duel was over. Sano moved quickly, but very carefully, he couldn't allow himself to disrupt the style Saitou had started, doing so would mean defeat, but it was heavy work, trying to improve upon what The Black Wolf Stylist had preformed, it was an artwork. After long minutes of careful movement Sano pulled away from Kenshin's head, breathing heavily. That had been hard, he almost hadn't been able to pull it off, but he had managed to tame the wild style that Saitou had put on Kenshin's head, without disrupting the flow of it.

"You're better than I thought Sagara, but it's over now. Prepare to meet your end at the tip of my Gattoutsu." Sano cringed as the man pulled out the same bottle he had shown him before, and carefully dabbed some along his fingers. Then with a loud battle cry Saitou dove onto Kenshin's head and attacked his bangs, pulling and ripping across the unconscious man's scalp and coming away with a masterpiece that solidified instantly. The Gattoutsu had left Kenshin's bangs in a near impossible state, overhanging the man's forehead in a perfect arc. Sano had never seen anything like it, it was almost Godlike. Beads of sweat manifested across his brow as he looked at the Scottish man's hair, beating that... It was unthinkable, the Gattoutsu was unbeatable, there was no way... No! There was a flaw in it. "Make your move Ahou."

Sano slowly wiped the sweat from his brow and withdrew the vial of liquid from his pocket, his Futai No Kiwami. It was his only hope for defeating the Gattoutsu. The vial opened slowly, and a very small amount was dashed out onto Sano's fingers. He could only use one hand, his other one was too slick from sweat to risk tainting the mixture, and he had only one shot at this. "Go! Futai No Kiwami!" And with that scream upon his lips Sano went at Kenshin's hair. Saitou froze, the ash of his cigarette scarcely hanging on, there was a pained look in the man's eyes, as if he had just been stabbed. Sano pulled his hand slowly away from Kenshin's head and stared at what he had done. The bangs had been nearly perfect, it was true, but there had been a slight droop in the arc, a tiny imperfection in the angle they hung. The Gattoutsu hadn't been able to hold it there, but the Futai No Kiwami had been. The angle was perfect, a pure divisible of Pi. There was dead silence before Saitou dropped to his knees in defeat. Sano smiled, exhausted, and then was wrapped up tightly in Misao's arms as she cheered for him.

"Now you know what it feels like to be weak Hajime Saitou." The man looked up at Karou standing over him, he didn't seem to have the strength left to fight back. "Now get out of my salon, and never come back." The Black Wolf Stylist slowly got to his feet and then stumbled out of the door, grasping his chest.

"You did it Sano! You beat him!" He laughed as he spun Misao around.

"Yeah I did, I told you nothing could beat my Futai No Kiwami didn't I?" The two embraced tightly and then shared in a victory kiss as Karou looked on happily. Even Yahiko felt part of the excitement as he looked upon his brother in a new light. Everything was beautiful, it had all gone perfectly, and everyone was happy.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR?!?!?!?!?!?!"

  
  


__________

Author's Note: The first duel has been won, but more challenges still await Sagara Sanosuke as he begins his quest to become the world's greatest stylist. Next time: An new challenge is presented in the form of the Juppon-Gatana stylist league. Sano knows that as good as he is, he can not take them all on alone, he must bring in more stylists to help him in his fight. Will anyone come to Sano's aid? Will Yahiko finally come to respect his brother? Who is this woman who will try to steal Sano's heart...finally? Will Kenshin be subjected to more torture? Find out next time with part three: The Mysterious Woman!


	3. The Mysterious Woman

Disclaimer: Perversion I have, Ruroni Kenshin I don't.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction

by

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sano sprinted forward, naked chest gleaming wet over taut muscles and he ran. Bare feet slammed heavy down in a massive leap and then he catapulted upwards with a blaring yell of victory. He soared through the air like a majestic eagle, arms outstretched to either side, and then with a resounding crash he came down into the water flat on his stomach, knocking all of the breath out of him. "His prone body slowly floated to the surface of the pool and Misao clapped for him, "That was the best belly-flop I've seen all day!"

The public pool, with its steaming cement and small umbrella covered tables was the perfect place for Sano to celebrate his victory over Saitou. It was the place where dreams came alive for the young man, where magic could happen. Plus there were lots of hotties in practically nothing. After dealing with the immense pain of slamming into the water on his stomach from the high dive, Sano pulled his head above water and checked his hair. Absolutely perfect he had to say, not a strand out of place. He spun around in the water and waved to his girlfriend, who waved back happily. Sano grinned, that was the main reason he had wanted to come here. Misao had the tiniest little black bikini, it was like a second skin, and she filled it out just about perfectly. So what if she wasn't as gifted in the chest department as say...Karou? And her butt more than made up for it, the little wedgie riding up that gave a picture perfect view of, "Sano, quit staring at my ass!"

Before he could make up a half assed excuse or a perverted remark, his thought processes were interrupted by a screamed, "Cannonball!" Sano barely had time to look up before the girth of a three hundred and thirty pound forty year old man in a speedo came crashing down directly onto his face. After a few moments Sano was able to free his head from those gigantic cheeks and climbed out of the pool gasping for breath and looking very green.

Misao sat down on her towel and laughed at him, "Serves you right pervo." The highschooler looked around herself for a moment before asking, "Hey, where are Kenshin and Karou? They were right behind us when we came in."

Sano smirked and laid down next to her, "Those two? They went into the women's changing room right behind you, didn't you notice them?"

She blanched, "Both of them? Kenshin would never do something like that!" She glanced around herself again and pulled her arms up close, seeming to be modest in her swimsuit for the first time, "Do you think he saw me changing?"

"Down to bare butt and silky skin I'd say. Lucky bastard." He spent the next few moments nursing a sore jaw. "Jesus, you hit like a man! I was kidding Misao, you know Ken, he'd never go around spying on naked ladies, it's not his way. And besides, Karou's got his balls in a vice grip that she doesn't plan on letting go of."

She sighed, "Yeah, you're right. But still, I wonder what's taking them so long in getting out."

"The little man's got more stamina than I gave him credit for."

  
  


"Karou, I shouldn't be in here. What if someone catches me?" She yanked the little redheaded man up closer to her, pressing her back up against the inside of the locker.

"Don't worry about it, as long as you keep that shirt on no one will know you're a man. They'll just think you're a little flat chested girl."

"But Karou, what if they you? I mean, what if they see us? Won't they know?"

She groaned, "Then they'll just think we're lesbians." And before he could ask anymore aggravating questions she pulled him up next to her and planted her lips upon his. Despite his former protests and frustratingly logical arguments, Kenshin seemed pretty willing. She loved that about him, he'd always try to do what's right, but the second you get him doing something wrong he was like a crazy wild man. And his eyes, she couldn't explain it, but they turned gold when he got like this, it was so hot. Their tongues tangled together almost violently, he was such a good kisser, he had this technique, where he spiraled his tongue somehow, it was great. It was even better when he did it- WHAM! "Ow!" He head had slammed back into the locker's back wall, maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

It was a full sized locker, a good six feet high, and Karou had gotten the great idea to stick herself in so that if anyone walked by they'd think Kenshin was just digging through his locker. It was a plan of genius, but it was a little more crowded in here than she had originally thought. Oh well, no better solutions at the moment right? After her exclamation of pain, Kenshin's lips had left hers, but they didn't return like she had expected them to. Instead the pressed down against her neck and she had to suppress letting out a squeal, she loved it when he did that, especially when he sucked on it just a little. His hands moved over her body fluidly, rubbing up against her bare skin one moment, then the thin fabric of her one piece the next. His fingers trailed slowly up her leg, barely caressing her inner thigh in a way that made her want to scream. He was such a tease sometimes. His fingers continued their slow ascent, moving ever higher and coming closer and closer to their goal. "Hurry Kenshin, I can't take it..."

"Oro?"

"ORO?! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN ORO?! DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING 'ORO' ME RIGHT NOW!!!" That's when she noticed the large hand around her pookie's neck. "Huh?" Before she could react Kenshin was yanked away from her and the locker door was slammed closed, locking her inside. "Kenshin!" Her fists beat against the door but it did no good, all she could do was watch through the three little slits on the door as Kenshin was hit over the head with a blunt object and dragged unconscious from her view. "KENSHIN!!!" A small folded piece of paper was shoved through one of the slits and then it was empty again, there was no one outside the locker. She could barely breathe, something terrible had just happened, her boyfriend had been kidnaped right in front of her and she hadn't been able to do anything about it. With a gasping of breath she looked down at the piece of paper and managed to pick it up despite the cramped space in the locker. It was addressed to Sagara Sanosuke.

  
  


Misao had just left to go check on Kenshin and Karou, leaving Sano to sit back next to the pool and soak up the sun. It sure was a nice day, the sun shining down, and all the pretty girls wearing bathing suits that clung like second skins where the first skin wasn't just showing anyway. Sano loved the pool. As he was checking out everything something dark in the water caught his eye. A flowing form of inky black just beneath the surface. "Eh?" Sano's eyes tracked to the form as it moved up next to the side of the pool.

What emerged from the water first were a pair of hands that pressed against the concrete, lifting a stunning figure from the water. Blue eyes that seemed to shine like priceless sapphires, and warm inviting lips that begged to be kissed. Sano swallowed quite hard as a long slender leg stretched up and planted itself to lift her completely out of the pool. The body was perfect in the tiny string bikini, round full breasts, flat stomach with the tiniest indentation of a navel, and hips that aroused passions that were slightly hard to conceal in his swimming trunks. But that wasn't what drew most of his attention. It was the midnight mane that cascaded around the woman's shoulders, the water pouring off of it in a thousand tiny waterfalls that ended up pooling down at her feet. And it seemed completely untouched by the water, holding its shape despite the weight of the fluids on it, a simple straight cut that was so hard to pull off so perfectly. "Stare much?"

Sano jumped when she spoke and blushed despite himself, she even had the most enchanting voice he had ever heard, not high pitched with undertones of impending violence like Misao's, but deep and sultry, the voice of a woman who had experience under her thong. Was that a thong? He couldn't quite tell form this angle. Without hesitation he stood up and offered his hand to her with his most charming smile, "Hi there, I'm Sagara Sanosuke, but you can call me Sano. You have the most beautiful hair I've ever seen."

She took a slight glance at his hand, then back at his face, and then to his hair. "I really wish I could say the same Sagara Sanosuke. Or should I just call you Rooster Head?"

Sano's face hardened, his eyebrows coming together as his outstretched hand turned to a pointing finger which he poked her in the chest with, "Hey don't get all superior on me lady! I was just being friendly!" The woman's eyes narrowed quite visibly and Sano froze before slowly glancing down. He had the forefinger of his right hand buried deep between the mounds of her breasts and he turned a bright red. It was so soft and warm in there. And then he felt the stinging sensation of a slap across his cheek and he very wisely removed his finger from its happy home.

The woman frowned and crossed her arms under her breasts, "That's the only warning you're going to get Rooster Head." Then her lips crossed up into a slight smile and she glanced over his shoulder, "It looks like someone wants your attention."

Sano turned his head just in time for his other cheek to be gifted with the same stinging sensation his other one had been presented with. "Oww! What the hell? I aughta kick your....oh."

Misao did not look happy, "Who the fuck is this?! Your other girlfriend?!" Before he could explain his nose was smashed in by a tiny fist and he went backwards into the water with a hefty splash. Somehow, everything was going wrong. He had met a beautiful woman he wanted to talk to, and had gotten hit, hard. And then, after being completely innocent of any wrong doing, his girlfriend had shown up and he had gotten hit, hard. He watched from the bottom of the pool as both women peered down into the depths after him, Misao seemed to be talking animatedly with the other woman, who was taking the young woman's rants in stride. Then a body broke the water above him and he saw the woman coming towards him, like some kind of angel coming after him.

She really was beautiful. Sure Misao was hot, but this girl was almost infinitely more alluring. In the way that only a mature woman could be, and on the plus side he wouldn't be getting arrested for dating her either. He smiled slightly as she encompassed him in her arms, pressing him up against her body and then turning him in the water. He must've been wrong about her, she really did like him. Hell, he'd let her call him Rooster Head if she wanted, that was just fine with him. Then his head broke water and he felt himself being hauled out of the water and laid flat on his back. He could see her over him, and felt her hands on his chest. Was she going to do something right now? In front of all of these people? She really was kinky. Then there was a sharp pressure on his chest and he coughed loudly, not to mention quite painfully. Water shot out from his throat and he gagged, rolling over onto his hands and knees with a groan. The next thing he knew he felt a slam against his rib cage and hacked up more water. The woman seemed irritated, "What are you doing?"

Then Misao, "I'm helping!"

"You don't help by kicking him in the ribs!"

"Look, he's feeling better!"

Sano groaned again and turned his head to look over at Misao, "Yeah, I'm just peachy..." He grumbled and got a stern look from the younger girl. But he crawled to his feet and shook out his hair, which immediately returned to its normal shape. "The next time you want to try and drown me just hold my head underwater. I'd appreciate it more than getting knocked half unconscious." She continued scowling at him and the other woman put a hand on his shoulder.

"Rooster Head, I think you owe me a thank you."

He frowned and spun around, knocking her hand from his shoulder, "Yeah, thanks lady." God she was beautiful, if only she could get a personality that didn't suck so much. "Now you wanna back off so my girlfriend doesn't beat me into a coma? Or do you think it's funny watching a grown man get hit?"

She frowned and crossed her arms again, "Well you're about the most ungrateful person I've ever met." She turned around and for the love of God yes it was a thong. "You owe me your life Rooster Head, and I'm not going to forget it." Sano tried very very hard to scowl as she walked away, but he just couldn't, she had this wiggle when she walked that made him forget why he had been mad at her. And all of that confidence she had, it was like nothing in the world could touch her, and that just made him want to even more. Then he felt a crack against the back of his head and he spun around.

"What the hell was that for Misao?!"

She had her hands on her hips and glared at him, "I saw you looking at her ass!"

"Oh this is just great! I can't look at your ass! I can't look at anyone else's ass! Who's ass am I supposed to look at?!"

Whatever retort she was about to scream was stopped as Karou came running towards them, waving her hands. She wasn't even wearing her swimsuit, what had she been doing in that changing room for so long? No, that wasn't the question, the question was where had Kenshin gone off to? Those two were never separated. Misao turned as her best friend came up, "Karou, what's the matter? Where's Kenshin?"

"He's been kidnaped!" If she had said anything else Sano probably could have taken it, but as it was, he just didn't understand it.

He shook his head, "Why would anyone kidnap Kenshin?"

Karou seemed a bit panicked, not that he could really blame her though. "I don't know, they just..." She took a breath and Sano finally noticed the tears running down her cheeks, glistening in her eyes. His heart jumped up in his chest and he felt like encompassing her in his arms. He hadn't known her for very long, Misao had introduced them a few months ago, but he had grown really close to her. Despite her temper she was one of the most caring people he had ever met, and every time he was at her house she fed him. Or rather, she had Kenshin feed him, he had tried her cooking once and spent the rest of the afternoon in the bathroom. "They just grabbed him and and..." The tiny girl collapsed into Misao's arms bawling her eyes out and Sano immediately felt guilty. He couldn't explain it, but whenever a girl cried he always felt like it was his fault. Probably because most times it was.

Misao comforted her with a worried look on her face, "Karou, tell us what happened. Just calm down." Karou reached into her shirt and produced a small piece of paper, holding it out to Misao with more than a few sobs. The other girl took it, checked it over once and then held it out to Sano, "It's addressed to you."

He frowned and took the piece of paper, unfolding it. He read it over once, his frown increasing quite a bit. Then he crumpled it in his fist and shot a glance at Misao, "Calm her down, we're leaving." He started heading towards the exit, anger and confidence in every movement he made.

"Wait, what's happened? Tell me!" Misao called after him, and he turned around with a ferocity in his eyes that scared her.

"Someone heard about my duel with The Black Wolf. Kenshin's been kidnaped by a group that calls themselves the Juppon-Gatana. They want me to join up with them to take over the salon industry in Kyoto."

"What?! That's insane!"

Sano nodded and cracked his knuckles, "Yeah, and it's gonna take an insane man to stop them. So this looks like a job for me."

Misao smiled a little, she always liked it when he went into hero mode, "Do you think you can do it?"

"Not alone, but don't worry. I've got an idea of where I can find some help."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: Kenshin is kidnaped! Karou is crying! A plot for salon domination is in the works! It won't be an easy task for Sagara Sanosuke, can he do it? Next time: A new stylist is revealed! The Juppon-Gatana makes its presence known by sending in its first agent! Who does Sano have in mind to assist him in his quest to rescue Kenshin? Will Karou stop crying? Will Misao be able to control her temper long enough for Sano to finish a complete sentence? What is the fate of Kenshin? Will the mysterious woman ever tell Sano her name? And what the hell is with calling him a Rooster Head anyway? Find out next time in part four: Stoic Stylist!


	4. The Stoic Stylist

Disclaimer: Sanosuke Sagara refuses my ownership and is back by the rest of his copyrighted compatriots!

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction

by

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  


"The Oniwabawhat?"

Sano turned to Misao and shook his head as the city bus rolled along the streets. It had been no more than an hour since Kenshin had been kidnaped, and Karou was still distressed, leaning on Misao's shoulder and clutching her best friend's arm. Sano frowned, angry about the whole situation, and looked out the window. "Oniwabanshu, they're a ninjutsu hairstyling clan, probably the best in all of Japan."

Karou sighed, "Do you really think they'll help us Sano? I've heard about them, they're not supposed to be the most friendly hairstylists in Kyoto."

He shook his head, "I don't know, but they're the only chance we have. I heard that their lead stylist is supposed to be unbeatable. Not as good as me of course, but pretty damned good."

Misao frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, "I bet he's a total dipshit."

With a hiss of air brakes the bus came to a stop in front of what looked like a large Buddhist temple, vines overgrowing the outer wall and giant trees spread out beyond it, interspersed with buildings that looked to be at least three hundred years old. As Sano as the others climbed off of the bus, the tall man stuck his hands in his pockets and withdrew a pack of cigarettes, one of them finding its way into his mouth. "This is the place," he said as he lit it.

"Wow, this is nice." Misao seemed a bit stunned as she walked out of the bus, blue eyes locked on the gates up a line of steps and a bronze plaque next to them, 'Oniwabanshu Hair Styling Clan'.

Sano took the steps two at a time as the girls followed up behind him, and he rang the buzzer next to the gates. Immediately a voice came over the speaker, "Who's there?"

Karou frowned, "Kind of rude aren't they?"

Sano just tapped the button again, "Sagara Sanosuke, weilder of the Futai no Kiwami here to see Shinomori Aoshi."

The voice over the speaker didn't seem impressed, "No one sees Shinomori-sama without an appointment. Futai no Kablooey or not."

The knuckles on Sano's hands went pure white as he punched the button, "It's Futai no Kiwami jerk face! And I don't need a damned appointment to see you're lame ass master. I'm Sagara Sanosuke, the best hair stylist in Kyoto!"

"No one sees Shinomori-sama without an appointment."

Misao managed to grab Sano and weigh him down enough that he fell off of the gates he was attempting to scale. There was a slight squabble then as Sano tried to peel her off and got a fist to the groin for his troubles. But they both stopped in mid stangle as they heard Karou speaking. "Please, we have to see Shinomori Aoshi. Kenshin, my boyfriend, he's been kidnaped by the Juppon Gatana. We can't rescue him on our own, we need your help!"

"Listen lady, I already told you no one sees Shinomori-sama withou-"

The voice was interrupted by another, deeper voice. "Come in." Then with a buzz the gates in front of them opened and they moved through into a lush green courtyard. While the gates closed behind them they all looked up to see a man approaching them with ebony midnight hair parted down the middle and bangs just above his eyes and a white trench coat with a crimson interior, the collar flipped up around his neck. "I am Shinomori Aoshi," he said with the same voice that was over the intercom. "So you're Sagara Sanosuke, the one who beat Hajime Saitou. You don't quite meet my expectations."

Sano frowned and raised his fist in a challenge, "You wanna try me girly boy? I'll style you into the gutter, right Misao?" He turned to see his girl friend just sort of gaping and staring at Aoshi, drool running out of the corner of her mouth. "Misao? Hey Misao!" His hand waved in front of her face for a few seconds before she snapped out of it with a confused look and kicked Sano in the shin. "Oww dammit! What'd you do that for?"

"Shut up!" Her face was red as an apple and for the life of him Sano couldn't figure out why. So he just rubbed his leg painfully before an eeirly familiar voice drew his attention back towards Aoshi.

"Well, if it isn't the Rooster Head himself. Are you stalking me or something?" It was the woman from the swimming pool, elegant in a black dress that seemed the perfect counterpoint to Aoshi's coat. She stood next to the other man, almost leaning on him, and for a good few seconds all that was running through Sano's mind was, 'Foxy Lady.' Then he got kicked again.

"What're you staring at stupid?!" Misao growled.

"I don't know, what were you staring at toothpick?" And another scuffle broke out, leaving Karou to deal with the situation. She wisely chose to ignore the fighting couple.

"Shinomori-sama, I'm sorry to have to come to you like this, but it is urgent. My boyfriend needs help, and you're the only person we could come to."

He nodded, "Well I normally don't help people. And you're no exception. Megumi, separate those two."

The woman approached Sano and Misao and yanked them apart quite elegantly, leaving Sano completely shocked that she was again touching him; it was like some kind of dream come true. "If you would please calm down so that you can get to your rooms..."

Misao calmed down long enough to stop kicking and punching the air violently around Sano, who was a good inch and a half out of range. "Rooms? And just who are you anyway?"

She sighed and took a step back, "Doctor Takani Megumi, I'm Aoshi's fiancee and I help him run the Oniwabanshu."

Sano was stunned, "Fiancee?! You're engaged to that jerk?"

Misao seemed equally stunned, "Fiancee?! He's engaged to your skanky ass?!"

Megumi just frowned, "Yes Weasel Girl and Rooster Head, that jerk is engaged to my skanky ass." She spun on her heel then and started walking towards one of the other buildings, "If you're going to be guests here then you have to be dressed appropriately. I can't have you all looking like street thugs and prostitutes."

Sano gave a look to Misao in her bathing suit coverup of cutoff jeans and a tank top and took the time to note that she did indeed look like a prostitute. Then his attention was drawn back to the smooth curves and fine movements of the woman ahead of them and followed eagerly. "So Megumi, is Aoshi going to help us or not?"

She turned then and put her hands on her hips, "Wether he helps you or not all depends on how well you preform in the duel tomorrow."

Karou gawked, "Tomorrow! You mean we're spending the night here? But what about Misao? She'll have to call her parents and-"

Karou's words were silenced by a hand over her mouth while Misao smiled and made sure she couldn't move with a nice submission hold, "Don't worry about that. Everything's going to be fine, I always stay out without telling my parents. It's no big deal really. Show me to my bedroom!"

While Megumi and Sano walked away, Karou pulled Misao off of her and frowned, "What're you talking about Misao? Your parents freak if you don't call them every hour!"

Misao thumped her best friend in the nose, "Shut up! This could be my only chance to spend the night alone with Aoshi!"

"You mean Sano."

"That's what I said wasn't it?"

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: The Mysterious Woman has finally been revealed! The Stoic Stylist is prepared to Duel! And a love rectangle seems to be in the mix! What is up next for our brave band of heros? Will Sano be able to defeat Aoshi? Will Misao lose herself to the seductions of a night alone in the Oniwabanshu Hair Styling Clan? Will anyone but Karou ever remember that Kenshin is the reason they're all here? And will the next chapter come at a timely pace without the urgings of the wonderfully inspirational Cherry? Wait and see next time with: Cherry Blossom Night! (In ode to my biggest fan!)


	5. Cherry Blossom Night: Part One

Disclaimer: I don't own the Oniwabanshu, but if I did I would have REAL ULTIMATE POWER!!!! 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan-Fiction

by

C M Forde

For

Cherry Delight

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"How's my hair?"

Karou looked up at Sano and sighed, "It's fine, it always is. I don't see what your big deal is, we're just having dinner. You sound like you're going on a first date or something."

The tall man frowned and looked in the mirror again, adjusting the collar of his jacket for the fifth time, "I just want to show that Aoshi prick I can look all stuck up too." He turned back to Karou and held his arms out, "How do I look? You think the stick in my ass is as big as his?"

She shook her head, "I don't think that's important. We're here to help Kenshin remember? You looking like a jerk isn't going to help him too much." She put her hands on her hips, "I think we're just wasting time here anyway. Doing everything at this guy's beck and call, do we really need him Sano?"

He wasn't paying attention, "Do you think Megumi will be impressed by this? Or is it too much?"

"I think you should be more worried about what your girlfriend would think. You remember your girlfriend, her name's Misao?"

Sano shook his head and turned to face her again, "Karou what do you think I am? Some kind of womanizing animal who can't keep his mind on one woman for more than five minutes?"

"Yes."

He scoffed and headed out of the room, "Listen, I'm just worried about what Megumi will think because she's the person I have to impress here. Without her we'll never get that prick Aoshi on our side. And without Aoshi we'll never be able to... Umm... Uhh..."

"Save Kenshin?"

"Yeah, that's it! Anyway I'm doing this so we can save Kenshin, it has nothing to do with how hot Megumi looked at the swimming pool with the water dripping..."

Karou just groaned and slipped out into the hallway, "You're an ass Sano." She closed the door behind her and shook her head, it was like she was the only one who cared about Kenshin. Sano was so enthralled with this new woman that he could barely remember Misao, much less Kenshin. From the way things were going, it looked like Karou was going to have to save him herself, though she couldn't figure out how she was going to be able to do that. Maybe she'd be able to get Misao to talk some sense into Sano, where was she anyway?

"What were you doing in Sano's room you two timing skank?!" Karou was tossed back against the wall, an arm pressed against her jugular. She found herself staring into a pair of ice blue eyes and tried to cough out a response, but her throat was closed off completely. It took a good three seconds before Misao let up on her grip and took a breath, "Sorry Karou, are you ok? I thought you were that bitch Megumi."

Karou shoved Misao away from her with a growl, "Were you trying to kill me?!" A hand reached up to rub her sore throat and she spun on her heel to head towards her own room. "Jesus Misao, get a grip!" She couldn't blame the other girl really, Misao had every reason to be cautious of Sano's advances, but she didn't think Misao had anything to worry about on Megumi's end. The woman didn't seem the least bit interested in Sano from what she could see.

Misao looked genuinely apologetic and reached out to take her friend by the arm, "Karou I'm so sorry. I just... It's Sano, I've seen the way he looks at Megumi and I don't know if I can take it."

"Oh, and you haven't been looking at Aoshi the same way?"

Misao started, "Karou, what are you talking about?"

She shook her head, "Don't Misao. Just don't. You're such a hypocrite. Kenshin's out there somewhere most likely about to die and you two can't think with any part of your body above the waist!"

"Girls!" Both of the women jerked around to see Sano standing in the doorway of his room, glaring at both of them like they were insane, "You two are best friends, you shouldn't be bickering like this. Kenshin is our first and foremost priority right now and you've got to remember that!" He crossed his arms across his broad chest and just frowned, "And don't worry about how I feel about Megumi, I'm using her to get Aoshi to help us."

Karou felt horrible, here she had been so blinded by what she thought was going on that she hadn't even thought to think of Sano as competent. But he had beaten The Black Wolf Stylist Hajime Saitou, she should have more respect for him. "Sano... I'm sorry... It's just all this stress, it's getting to me."

"I know Karou, it's getting to all of us."

Misao stepped towards Sano, "How could you hear our conversation?"

He thumped the wall, "Hello? Traditional Japanese Buddhist temple? Paper walls?"

She blushed, "Oh... Oh yeah. Whoops." Misao smiled then and hugged Sano tightly, and the man certainly didn't seem to mind, he seemed warmer when she was attached to him like that. "Paper walls though... I don't get it, they're so easy to punch through."

Sano nodded, "I know, I poked a hole right through and watched you change."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Did I say that out loud?"

  
  


Meanwhile:

Kenshin's eyes slowly opened, the whole world was a bleary mess of black and white, and his head swam and bobbed in nauseating dizziness. With a groan he tried to move, but found his arms bound tightly to something hard, something that was keeping him upright. It was a chair, he was tied to a chair, but why? Everything was hazy in his memory. The last thing he remembered was Karou, she was telling him he looked like a girl or something like that. No! "Karou!" He jerked tight against the ropes but to no avail, they held tightly to his form, burning against his chest, wrists and ankles.

"Well look who's awake..."

Kenshin tried to turn his head but something hard slammed into his face, knocking it back down. He growled, blood pouring from behind his teeth, he had bit his tongue with that blow, "Where's Karou?"

"She's perfectly safe I'd figure. Holed up with Shinomori Aoshi right now. They're coming to save you."

Kenshin's eyes closed and he tried to remember exactly what had happened, but it wasn't there. "Who are you?"

"You don't remember me? I'm shocked. My voice doesn't even register in your tiny little head anymore?"

Kenshin froze, "You?!" He spun his head and this time was hit even harder, causing the chair to tip forward into the floor, cold concrete rushing up to meet Kenshin's face.

"Sleep well Shinta." Then something else hit him, and everything was dark.

  
  


One Hour Later: 

"Shinomori-sama, are you enjoying your dinner?"

The man turned his cool gaze to Misao and she instantly wished she hadn't spoken, he was glaring at her like she had insulted him. He was so distant and so...stuck up. She couldn't explain it but it was a real turn on, the way he didn't even seem to notice that she existed, he was like some kind of god or something. "Megumi... You look shmokin' in that kimono." Misao's head spun around to see Sano holding a half empty bottle of Sake and staring blatantly at Megumi's breasts. Aoshi didn't seem to care, so it was up to Misao to grab him by the ear and yank him back into an upright sitting position. "Oww! What'd I do Mishao?"

"You're being a jerk is what you're doing!" God, this was hard. How was she supposed to keep him in line and seduce Aoshi at the same time? It was getting damned ridiculous. She was going to have to just tie Sano up somewhere so she could have some quality time with Aoshi without her boyfriend screwing it up. And as for Megumi... The woman had helped Sano with that bottle, and the blush on her cheeks and the sultry look in her half closed eyes was not helping her in the slightest.

"Hey Misao, I'm gonna go for a walk." This forced her to draw her attention away from bot Aoshi and Sano to look across the small table at Karou, and her completely empty bottle of sake. This whole thing with Kenshin had really gotten to her, so Misao couldn't really blame her for drinking that much, but she hadn't thought her friend could actually do it. Karou didn't wait for an answer, she just stood up form the table and half wobbled half fell through to the open door into the courtyard.

"Well Rooster Head, your girlfriend has you on a short leash." Megumi caught a very evil glare from Misao, but the older woman didn't even seem to notice, which almost drove Misao over the edge. She wouldn't look so pretty with a smashed nose and a broken jaw. Hell, those boobes probably weren't even real. How'd she like that? If Misao just yanked up a knife and popped out one of those silicone implants and flopped it in Sano's lap. She wouldn't be so smug then would she? Aoshi wouldn't be engaged to some lady with uneven tits!

"I'm going to bed." Aoshi pushed himself up from the table and Misao felt her heart drop like a rock down into her gut. He was leaving her alone? How could he do that? Didn't he even care?! God he was so hot... As he walked away she just wanted to reach out and grab his ass. Her fingers even tensed in preparation. But she was able to keep herself from doing so, though when he was gone she did collapse face first into the pillow he had been kneeling on. It was still warm... All that coldness he seemed to put off, but his pillow was still warm. Ok, so she had a little bit to drink, certainly not as much as Karou, probably not even as much as Sano... Ok maybe not as much as Sano. Alright a little bit more than Sano, but she could handle her liquor better than he could, she wasn't even slurring her words.

"That's my cue to leave as well." God Misao hated Megumi. Wished the bitch would just strip naked and get it over with.

"Hold on, lemme help you up." Wait... This sounded like trouble. Misao groaned and lifted her head up above the table height just in time to catch sight of a nightmare. Across the plates and food and glasses she saw Megumi slip on something, falling tumbling into Sano's arms. He caught her of course, even drunk he never missed a chance to catch a beautiful woman in mid trip, he had proclaimed this fact many times. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, Megumi's ebon locks cascading down her shoulders as she fell into his waiting arms. Then she looked up into his face, her cheeks and his both flushed with more than just the alcohol in their systems. Eyes locked together for a single moment, then two, for an time only measurable in heartbeats they stood there looking longingly into each other's eyes. 

Then Karou came running into the room, naked as the day she was born and giggling up a storm. Sano jerked back a step in surprise, causing Megumi to face plant into the woodwork. Misao took that moment to run in and grab Sano by the sleeve, stepping Megumi's head in her hurry and dragging the man out of the dining room and into the hallway where she placed her lips against his as hard as she could. A few seconds later Sano pushed her back slightly, "Mishao? What're you doing?"

"I need you Sano. Make love to me."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: Cherry Blossom Night: Part One has concluded! The love polygon between Misao, Megumi, Aoshi and Sano seems to have taken quite a twist in the drunken passions of the night! What will Sano do? Will he trust his lust for Megumi to see him though? Or will he succumb to the embraces of his girlfriend and spend a night rolling in the hay with an underage girl?! Only time will tell as we move on to Cherry Blossom Night: Part Two!!! ....... What? You mean I can't write NC-17 stories for fanfiction.net anymore? Dammit! Cherry Blossom Night: Part Two has been cancelled! I hope to see you next time with Episode 7: The Ten Scissors of the Juppon-Gatana. 

  
  


PS: Hope you enjoyed your story Cherry.


	6. The Ten Scissors of The Juppon Gatana

Disclaimer: The Rating of this Fan-Fiction has been raised to R for: Violence, Strong Language, Nudity, and Adult Content. Children under the age of 17 must be accompanied by parents, bring a fake ID, or bribe the Authoress with Fruity Pebbles and Hentai.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan-Fiction

by

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The sun glared through the open window and Sano groaned out loud, closed eyes squinting and a hand moving to block out the light. God, who the hell hit him with a sledge hammer last night? His head was throbbing horribly, and the blaring ass sun was not helping it in the least. "Somebody get the light..." And after a few seconds he realized that no one was going to turn off the sun, and he rolled over onto his other side so he didn't have to face the window. The soft and very feminine squeak that resulted from this action startled his senses and he tried to open his eyes, but they weren't having any of it. So he had to settle with blind groping. There was a thigh, hip, waist, ribs, breast... His hand lingered there for a while, though unlike his eyes this was of his own free will. Collar bone, shoulder, neck, cheek, ear, hair. As he suspected he was laying next to a naked woman. His hand went back down to the breast and gave it an investigative squeeze, which was rewarded with a gasping intake of air from the woman. 

Sano paused to think. Ok, about a handful, soft, pretty perky. He went over known breasts in his mind. Megumi, it could be hers, seemed about right, but he was pretty sure hers were larger. Yes, he was very sure that hers were larger, probably not as perky either, though he was going to bet much softer. Right, so this wasn't Megumi, that left Misao. Good old Misao, she had finally given in to his wit and charm just like he had always predicted. No... Wait. Misao's were smaller than this, he was quite sure of that fact, having snuck peaks at them for a good couple months now. Well this was definitely an odd situation. It wasn't Megumi, and it wasn't Misao. So who did this breast belong to?

"Mmm, Kenshin. I like it right there."

This forced his eyes open with a rapidity that had proven quite impossible a few moments before. And he found himself staring into a very recognizable face, a pretty one to be sure, but not one he had ever expected to wake up to in the morning. His act of surprise tightened his hand, which brought the woman awake. Karou was an excellent screamer.

"Owww! Jesus God dammit my head!" The screams of an underage girl finding herself in bed naked with her best friend's boyfriend groping her was not good for hangovers. Sano grasped at his forehead as he was tossed forcibly away from the screaming madwoman, which he wouldn't have minded if he hadn't landed on top of another. Misao had apparently been a student at the Kamiya school of scream. This time Sano was pushed backwards onto his knees, the momentum of it causing him to fall back into the wall and stay there in a half reclining position while his head tried to cope with all the random confusion going about the small bedroom. Then his face caught a pillow, followed by a shoe, followed by a bowling trophy. Now he had been relatively sure that there had not been a bowling trophy in the room before this incident, but after much experience he had a theory that viciously heavy projectile weaponry magically materialized in the hands of surprised nude women through sheer force of willpower.

This left the scene as follows, Sano holding his head and groaning, leaning against the far wall with a bowling trophy, a shoe and a pillow lying scattered about him. There was one pallet on the floor and Karou was in it, wearing nothing but an angry look and holding the blanket up to cover herself while continuing to glare at Sano's heavily injured form. Misao, also nude, was on the floor leaning back, apparently not yet having noticed that her clothes had been lost somewhere in the night, and seemed half horrified half angry with the current situation, fully prepared to materialize a sturdy rolling pin to throw at Sano.

Then all three of them, at the exact same time, though in different tones; Sano being confused, Karou being angry and Misao being frightened, said, "What the hell happened last night?!"

As if by divine intervention, Megumi opened the door to the room, "Wake up Rooster Head, there are some guests that want to talk to you." She paused for a moment, taking in the scene before her, then turned her head to look at Sano. A smile curled at the end of her lips and Sano was suddenly highly aware of the fact that like the girls, he too was wearing no clothes. "Hurry up Tiny, we don't have all day."

After Megumi closed the door there was a long moment of silence, that Sano finally broke, "So... Umm... Where are our clothes exactly?"

  
  


As Sano stepped out into the courtyard, he pulled his jacket over his shoulders, wincing slightly and pulling a staple out of the sleeve. He was going to be picking those out for a while. Why couldn't they, in their drunken stupor, have duct taped their clothes onto the ceiling instead of stapling them, it would've been much easier to fix. Aoshi was already there, Megumi at his side like the loyal fiancee she was, but they weren't the only ones in the courtyard.

Standing in the morning sun, which was still giving Sano a headache, was a balding man with sharp features that gave the distinct impression that he would bite off any limbs that came too near his mouth. Next to him was a woman that gave Sano pause, if for no reason other than the fact that a person could hide a half kilo of cocaine in her cleavage. Though that would be a bad idea, as no customs officer on the planet would let go a chance to frisk that hiding spot. And finally, standing at the forefront, was a man that seemed to draw all attention towards himself. He was tall, taller even than Sano himself, and what skin was visible was black and scarred. Most of him though, couldn't be spied, for he was covered from head to toe in white bandages, leaving only his eyes and mouth to be seen.

Misao stepped up next to Sano, "Who's the Egyptian?"

He shrugged, and then turned his attention towards the Oniwabanshu's master as Aoshi spoke, "Sagara Sanosuke, these people have been looking for you."

"Oh? Have they?"

The weasely faced man stepped forward, "Yes Sagara, we have." The man straightened the neck of his silken purple shirt and ran a hand back through his hair, or at least what was left of it. "I am Sadojima Hoji, of the Juppon Gatana."

Karou came out of nowhere and Sano barely caught her arm and pulled her back towards him, "You! You're the ones that kidnaped Kenshin!" She fought back against Sano's grip, but Misao took her other arm and eventually they were able to calm her enough to allow Sano to give the man an evil glare.

"What did you do with Kenshin?"

Hoji snorted, flicking a bit of sweat from his brow, "I don't owe you any answers. If you want your little friend back you'll have to do as we say."

Sano's hands tightened into fists, "Listen here you little ugly freak. I don't take orders from anybody. So how about I just pound you into the ground right now and then you tell me what I want to know?"

Hoji huffed and puffed, but the man in the bandages placed his hand on the other's chest, "Let me handle this Hoji." The smaller of the two nodded and took a step back as the other man walked towards Sano, towering a head taller than him, arms crossed over his chest. "My name is Makoto Shishio, maybe you've heard of me? I was a very famous stylist in the salon wars, but that doesn't matter now. You see, we took Kenshin because we're always looking for good stylists, and we figured this would be a good was to get your attention."

"Oh, it's attention you want Mummy Man? Well how about this?" Sano's fist came flying through the air at Shishio's face in a blow that would've knocked the man's head off if it had connected. Unfortunately though, it didn't, it was caught mid-swing by the taller man, who grinned and then brought his knee slamming into Sano's gut. He groaned and pitched forward, unable to breathe.

Shishio just smiled, especially at Karou, who seemed torn between rushing to help Sano and running for her life. As Shishio moved back towards his entourage, Hoji spoke again, "My master wishes to see you this afternoon, at the Mugenshi Salon downtown. Three O'clock, don't be late, or your friend Kenshin won't live to see the sunrise."

When the three turned to leave, they found Aoshi in their way, the quiet man's eyes emotionless, "I don't appreciate violence on my property."

The woman with the Juppon Gatana sighed, "Go play your macho games somewhere else. We've got places to be."

Aoshi didn't answer, he just glared icicles at the man in the bandages, who once again took the lead, "Hold on Yumi, I believe we're in the presence of a celebrity. Shinomori Aoshi isn't it? You're supposed to be very good, I've heard tell you're as good as Battousai himself. Is that true?"

Aoshi didn't answer, he just stepped aside, letting the Juppon Gatana leave the compound, then he turned to Sano, who was finally getting to his feet. "Well Sagara, it looks like I'll be helping you after all."

Sano growled something under his breath and stood up, that damned bandaged butt fuck had a hell of a kick on him. "That asshole's mine. You can take the ugly little guy."

Misao rested her hand on Sano's shoulder and looked at Aoshi, "Why are you deciding to help us all of a sudden anyway?"

Aoshi didn't answer, he just turned to Megumi, "Come on, we have to get ready for later. I don't plan on being late." She nodded and the two of them returned inside, leaving Sano to stare towards the gate, the direction the Juppon Gatana had left.

"Sano, do you know who that was?"

He turned to Karou, "Who, the burn ward reject?"

She nodded, "That was Makoto Shishio, he's supposed to be the greatest stylist that's ever lived. It's said that during the salon wars ten years ago he styled the hair of ten thousand men. Some people even say that he was better than Battousai himself."

Sano glanced over his shoulder again, then back at her, "Yeah, well what's with those stupid bandages?"

She frowned, holding herself tightly, almost shivering, "Near the end of the Salon Wars, when it was all coming to a close, he wouldn't stop. He was trying to overthrow the new stylists all on his own and become the sole ruler of the Salons in Japan. He was unbeatable, and it looked like he was going to succeed, so during one of the duels, while Shishio was using some very volatile hair spray, the stylist sacrificed himself by throwing a match into the stream. The whole salon went up in a blaze, everyone thought Shishio had died."

Misao put her hands on her hips, "You think that's the guy?"

Karou shrugged, "I don't know, but if he is then we're going to need more help than just Aoshi."

Sano nodded, "Yeah, but where are we going to get that?"

And then from behind them, a voice as cold as steel echoed across the courtyard, "Ahou..."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


___________

Author's Note: The Ten Scissors of The Juppon Gatana have arrived in the form of Makoto Shishio, Sadojima Hoji and Komagata Yumi. Do our heros have the power to defeat such powerful foes as Shishio, the stylist of ten thousand hairs? What is happening to poor Kenshin? Will the mysterious voice be a friend or foe? What the hell happened last night?!?!?! These questions may or may not be answered later!!! Find out in Episode Eight: Fire and Ice!!!


	7. Fire and Ice

Disclaimer: Since no one bribed me last time I assume all my readers are of a fine age or have very quality fake IDs. Of that I am proud, because it proves my readers are high Quality! Oh yeah, and I don't own jack beans about Kenshin.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan-Fiction

by

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"Shinta, are you feeling alright? Do you need some water?"

"What's the matter Shinta? You look terrible."

"I bet I know what could cheer him up. How about a little?" The short haired one was very annoying, always rubbing her ass in his lap, even when he was barely conscious enough to know what was going on. This Juppon-Gatana had kept him drugged and beaten so long he couldn't even tell how long he had been in their care. A day? A week? Longer? Kenshin just chose to ignore the woman grinding herself against him, this was hell. He only hoped Karou was okay.

"Kamatari, get off him, we don't have time for this." This voice gave Kenshin pause, it was Chou again, he always seemed to show up with that man behind him, the one covered in bandages, the one with the smile that still haunted his dreams. Makoto Shishio, the self proclaimed Battousai. Chou stepped forward, grabbing Kenshin by the collar of the tee shirt they had given him, a mockery. I heart Glosgow. "C'mon Shinta, you've got to be ready. You're the star of the show." A sharp pain struck out against Kenshin's cheek as Chou backhanded him, "There, just the right amount of pathetic."

  
  


"What do you want Saitou? Back for round two?" Sano's fist was clenched with white knuckles, if The Black Wolf Stylist wanted a rematch he'd get one, and he'd get beat down just as bad as he had last time. But the man with the impossible bangs didn't answer, he just stood there, squinty eyes keeping a close watch on Sano's movements, on those of the women next to him, especially on Karou.

"I hear the Juppon-Gatana wants a piece of you. I don't know why, you're obviously no match for them, but it strikes my curiosity."

"Oh yeah? Well I kicked your flat ass didn't I?"

Saitou smirked, "I let you win."

That struck Sano like a blow, was that just a bluff to allow Saitou to keep his pride? Or was he telling the truth. How could he have beaten a legend like The Black Wolf Stylst? "My ass you did, you wanna try me again? Go ahead!"

Saitou seemed about to answer when he was interrupted, "Hajime Saitou, it's been a long time." Aoshi had come back into the courtyard, followed by Megumi, it hadn't taken them long to get ready obviously. "You must be here for the same reason he is. The Juppon-Gatana."

Saitou nodded, "I heard that Battousai is involved. And Makoto Shishio as well. It looks like it'll be interesting to say the least."

Aoshi nodded and walked by Sano and the rest, then turned back to Saitou, "I'm headed to the Mugenshi Salon to settle scores with Shishio, are you coming?"

Saitou smiled that wicked grin again, "I've got nothing better to do."

Misao broke away from Sano a few feet, "Shinamori-sama! What about us?"

Sano nodded, "Yeah, you aren't going to try to leave me out are you?" The quiet stylist said nothing, he just turned around and started walking towards a car parked near the edge of the compound. "Hey! This is my fight you stupid prick, I'm coming too!" Again, Aoshi ignored him and climbed into the car along with his fiancee and Saitou. The engine started and Sano rushed towards the sedan, "Hey God damn it! Don't think you can leave me here!"

He was stopped in mid step as the passenger's window rolled down and Megumi gave him a cold glance, "Rooster head, quit acting like a moron and get in the car."

He smirked, "Yes ma'am." But before her could get in, Karou and Misao had taken up the remaining seats, leaving him with nowhere to ride. "Oh hold on a minute, somebody's got to get out, this isn't going to work."

Megumi laughed, "Don't worry, there's room."

This caused the younger man to grin, "Oh really? You inviting me to sit in your lap?" Megumi just smiled.

  
  


The car came to a stop in front of the Mugenshi Salon, it seemed there was a space reserved for it right in front. Aoshi climbed out of the driver's side, Megumi the passenger's, Saitou, Karou and Misao from the back seat. After straightening his coat, Aoshi reached back into the car and pressed a button which popped the trunk. Immediately it flew open and Sano rolled out, gasping fro breath, "That thing's air tight you son of a bitch!" Aoshi just shut the door and started headed for the salon, followed by the others and leaving Megumi to help Sano to his feet.

"You sure do whine a lot,' she said as she helped him to his feet. He grumbled something under his breath and slammed the trunk closed.

"This was your idea you know."

She shrugged, "You would have rather sat on Saitou's lap?"

"Better than yours you demented sadist."

She laughed and pushed him forward, where he almost stumbled into the doorway, "Shut up and get inside already. You sound like a baby who hasn't had his bottle."

He turned and crossed his forefingers in front of him like a ward, "Succubus! Back demon! I will not fall for your charms!" This caused her to frown and they both went inside.

Inside, Aoshi and Shishio were squaring off in a battle of icy stares while Saitou leaned against a wall casually, a cigarette burning listless smoke into the air. Sano stepped up next to him, "Hey man, can I bum a smoke?"

The other stylist gave him a sideways glance and then turned his attention back the Juppon-Gatana, "Ahou."

Sano would've socked him right then and there if he hadn't been interrupted by a scream he was all too familiar with, Karou's. "Kenshin!" Sano spun around to see the red headed man obviously drugged, barely on his feet and supported by...well a woman with great hair, even if she was pretty flat chested. This woman smiled at Karou and then ran her hand along Kenshin's chest, which sent Karou into a frenzy, "Get your hands off of him you dirty whore!"

The other woman laughed, "You aren't jealous are you girly? Because if you are I could always go down on him right here." She started to reach for his pants, but stopped as Shishio spoke.

"Kamatari that's enough. We're not here for your entertainment, we're here for a reason." The Juppon-Gatana seemed informally assembled, the balding Hoji, Kamatari, Shishio and a new man, one with a blindfold over his eyes and a devilish grin. Shishio turned back to the other stylist, his charred lips stretched in a smile, "Hajime Saitou, The Black Wolf Stylist. It's an honor to be graced with your presence. Have you come to watch or participate?"

Saitou just smiled, "I'm here to take heads."

Aoshi took a step forward, "I'm here to duel you Saitou, get ready."

Sano started forward, "Hey wait a second! Shishio's mine, you can take the little girl groping Kenshin!"

The laughter of Shishio echoed through the salon, "Sorry Sagara, but Aoshi challenged me first. You can have your turn after I've mopped the floor with him." Sano felt like snarling, but Megumi's hand on his wrist stopped him from any rash action. When he turned to her she only shook her head and turned to watch her fiancee reach into his coat and withdraw a long pair of knives, or were they knives? No! They were a pair of scissors that had been separated at the middle, Sano had never seen anything like it.

"Are you ready to feel the power of The Oniwabanshu Makoto Shishio?"

The taller man laughed and held a hand back towards Hoji, who produced a single large pair of scissors from a black case. Shishio grinned, then suddenly scraped the styling instruments across the countertop, igniting them into a brilliant flame. "What the hell?!" Sano got if off a millisecond before Karou did, leaving Shishio to laugh once more.

"This is Mugenjin, a one of a kind pair of scissors, and the perfect styling utensil." There was silence in the room as everyone watched the burning metal in the wrapped man's hands, "The edges, though you can't see them from there, are serrated and grooved. Over the years I have cut an uncountable number of hairs, and these scissors have gathered the hair spray from all of that hair, they're covered in it. The slightest friction ignites them and makes them the most formidable scissors in the world."

Karou stepped closer to Sano, "How is that supposed to work? You're just going to burn your subject's hair off?"

Shishio merely grinned, "You'll see. Shinomori, have you picked your subject?"

Aoshi turned, "Megumi, please sit."

The woman frowned, "But Aoshi, his scissors are on fire! It would be suicide to sit there, I... I can't!" Aoshi's expression changed almost imperceptably, like he was going to have to do something terrible. Then Misao stepped forward.

"I'll do it Shinomori-sama."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: And so it begins, the first battle with The Juppon-Gatana! Will the master of the Oniwabanshu be able to defeat The Styler of Ten Thousand Hairs? Or will Aoshi succumb to the ultimate power of Mugenshi, the deadly fiery scissors of doom? How will the battle affect Misao? And how will Misao's choice affect Sano? His girlfriend, ready to give up her hair for a man she met but a day ago? And what of fair Megumi, who was unable to assist her love? And most importantly, what about Kenshin? And what ties does he have to The Juppon-Gatana? All this and more revealed next time in: Lover in Peril!


	8. Lover In Peril

Disclaimer: I owns what I owns and that's all that I owns. And I don't owns no Kenshin.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction

by

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It was stock still in the salon, no one dared to breathe. In the back the short haired woman toyed with Kenshin's face while Hoji grinned maniacally at the flaming scissors gripped in Shishio's hands. Everybody was on edge it seemed, everyone except Aoshi, who held his ground with his standard icy coolness. It was a direct opposition to the other man's wild expression, as if he were waiting to tear Misao's hair to ribbons.

Misao…

Sano wanted to move, but a mixture of shock and anger kept him from doing so. She was going to risk herself for him, for Aoshi. He didn't try to kid himself, this wasn't to save Kenshin, he could see it in the way she looked at the man in the white coat, the way every muscle in her body seemed on edge as long as he was around. To think that she would to this to him after the night before, after what they had shared. But he paused, eyes not daring to close. What had happened last night? He couldn't remember, the memories eluded him completely, hidden behind veils of alcohol and the blurry half imagined dreams of his fantasy.

"Do you think you're ready little girl?" It was Shishio, his voice deep and throaty, a challenge to all in its tone. Aoshi didn't even look at him, and Saitou laughed.

"Your little girlfriend is very friendly isn't she ahou?"

Sano spun around to confront him, but was halted before he could get a word out by the expression on Megumi's face. It was disbelief, and he could tell it had nothing to do with the wrapped man's flaming steel or goading taunts. She was looking only at Aoshi, and when Sano joined her gaze he knew why. He wondered if he had been wearing Megumi's expression while he was looking at Misao. The doctor's fiancee seemed almost open hearted, almost friendly. He was looking at the teenage girl who was willing to sacrifice herself, and there was an almost imperceptible turn at the corner of his mouth, nearly a dimple in his cheek. It was enough to make Sano cringe.

"Let's get this over with." It was Misao, trying to muster up some of the bravery that she almost certainly didn't have. She was ready to back down, only her stubborn will holding up against the mad stare of Makoto Shishio. Sano prayed she would, he closed his eyes and prayed to every deity he could think of, every divine force in the universe. Just please, don't let her do this. It almost worked, she faltered for a moment, but Aoshi laid a hand on her shoulder. And then there was no more question, she was going to do it.

She took her seat in the chair and he heard a movement from behind him, a tragic gasp of air that he had almost let go himself. Megumi had broken. But Sano couldn't risk turning to her, the due was beginning then, Misao taking her seat in the chair, tarp placed over her. Sano felt a tightening on his arm and looked down to see a small hand grasping his forearm, fingernails digging deep into his skin, but the pain was keeping him alert. His eyes met those of Karou's for a moment, and he realized that this was bigger than just Misao and Aoshi, bigger than the crumbling relationships of himself and Megumi. This was about Kenshin, and it had to stay that way. He placed a hand over hers, and her gripped loosened somewhat, relaxing just a bit in comfort. "Everything's going to be fine." God, he hoped that was true.

"You show him Shishio!" It was the short haired woman, now sitting in the bound Kenshin's lap, trailing a finger over the crossed scar on his face, he felt Karou's grip tighten again. The other woman of the Juppon-Gatana nodded her approval.

"Don't waste any time."

Shishio just laughed, "Don't worry, I'm not going to." And with that simple phrase it began in truth, those flaming scissors flaying towards Misao's hair. Sano wanted to turn away, but he couldn't, instead he watched the flames burning at the edge of the blades, licking at the air as they snipped across her scalp. Once. Twice. From where he was standing, Sano could see what the flames were for. The scissors were moving so fast that the flames themselves never touched her hair, but the heat crushed it, raised it, expanded and lifted. Sano had never seen anything like it. He would have expected Misao's hair to wilt, to heat and catch fire, but Shishio's technique was flawless. Instead of destroying the hair, the heat brought it to life, gave it volume, texture, made the cuts clean and smooth, like nothing he had ever seen before. Perspiration beaded on her brow, across her scalp, almost immediately evaporated, the steam rising and making subtle fluctuations in the flow. After just fifteen seconds it was done, Shishio pulled back.

The result was magnificent, pure artistic beauty, Sano had never seen anything like it. There was no wonder that this man was the most feared stylist in the Salon Wars. With his ingenious instrument he had crafted perfection that Sano had never experienced before. There was nothing that could be done, in a single stroke it was over, and Aoshi had lost. Karou gasped, and there was even a silence from the piece of wall that Saitou had been occupying, no steady breathing, it had stunned the man.

Hoji cheered, "Excellent! Perfection! You've done it again!"

Shishio just smiled, it seemed he never stopped smiling, and with a wave of his hand he drew the scissors out of the flame, letting the air itself extinguish them. "All too easy."

Sano looked at Misao's reflection in the mirror, and she didn't look good, having that much heat so close, she was red faced, sweat pouring off of her, she only seemed half conscious. He wanted to run to her, but Karou's grip stopped him, as did Aoshi's cold words. "Are you done?"

Shishio turned back to the other stylist, arms crossed over his chest, "Isn't it obvious? You've met your better, you lost Shinomori."

Aoshi moved, or at least Sano thought he moved. It was a sudden flash, like from a camera, a glint as steel reflected the sun outside into his eyes, but it almost hadn't happened. The quiet master of ninjutsu hair styling, hadn't seemed to have changed position even a millimeter. Then, with a slow, surreal motion, Misao's braid came off. It tumbled to the floor in a pile that lay like a silent viper on the linoleum, pink bow down near the end the only thing that seemed to give the creature any life. Along the edge of one of Aoshi's dual blades, a single black strand of hair slid down, its own insubstantial weight enough to effortlessly split it in two. 

Aoshi didn't move, he didn't speak. He just presented his emotionless eyes to the burned man. No one in the salon dared to even breathe, if Sano had turned around he was sure that above Saitou's cigarette, the smoke had paused in mid air. Everything was deathly quiet, no sound from the traffic outside coming into the place. Aoshi's lips moved, "You're useless." Shishio crumpled to the ground on one knee, and finally, Sano's heart started to beat again.

He moved in an instant, across the room, his fist connecting with Hoji's face, sending the erratic looking man tumbling to the ground, face splattered in his own blood. Karou rushed forward, and the short haired woman burst through the back door of the salon, followed by the other woman, who had managed to drag Shishio up by the arm and pull him into their retreat. Karou was on Kenshin in an instant, first tearing at the ropes that bound him with her fingernails, then taking a pair of scissors from the counter and cutting him free. Sano stared to go to Misao, but he was beaten to it, the young woman already in Aoshi's arms, the tall man wiping her sweaty brow with a damp cloth. Megumi was nowhere to be seen.

Sano wanted to punch Aoshi in the jaw. To scream, 'Get your hands off my girlfriend!' But he couldn't, he didn't have the heart at the moment, the sight of her in his arms pushed a gaping hole deep into the man's soul. Then he heard a grunt and turned to see that Saitou had Hoji on his feet, "Talk to me." As Saitou spoke smoke blew into the smaller man's face, and he coughed.

"Ha! You think you've won! You can't defeat The Juppon-Gatana!" His voice was nasally despite the fact that his nose was crushed across his face. "Shishio was nothing! Our master would defeat all of you with no trouble! You're all going to pay for what you've done here today! My lord can not be stopped!"

Sano stepped forward, grabbing Hoji by the shirt and pulling up close, "We just kicked your lord's ass." He wasn't going to admit that it had been Aoshi that had done it, he couldn't just then. "So I think you're pretty much finished you little turd."

The man laughed, and his laughter sprayed little droplets of blood across Sano's face, "You think Shishio was in charge? That useless punk? Ha! My lord will eat you alive Sagara! All of you! Hajime, Shinomori, none of you stand a chance! You're going to lose!"

Sano snarled and shoved him back into the counter, disinfectant solutions and hair products scattering across the floor, "What do you want with us? What did we ever do to you?"

Hoji laughed again, Sano had never seen a man so outnumbered and battered laugh like that before. "It has nothing to do with you Sagara! You arrogant bastard. My lord cares only for The Wolf of Mibu and Battousai! You are all just flies!"

Saitou stepped forward then, between Sano and Hoji, arms folded across his chest, "What do you know about The Wolf of Mibu?"

"Hajime Saitou, what's the matter? Feeling the old memories of the Salon Wars coming back to you after ten years?" The little man's chest heaved with joy, "You don't even recognize him do you? Your memory's failing in your old age."

This time it was Saitou's time to throw Hoji, sending him careening into the far wall, shattering a mirror, "Where is he? Where's The Wolf of Mibu?!"

"I'm right here."

The voice hit Sano like a brick, clubbed him in the back of the head. He turned back, looking over his shoulder. Kenshin was in Karou's arms, but only for a moment, pulling away from the girl, standing straight and as tall as he seemed to be able to muster in his condition. "Hajime Saitou, leave that man alone."

Saitou froze, turning to look at the teenage boy standing there with his face one huge bruise, and the scar on his cheek burning a fierce red. Then Saitou stiffened, hand raising into a sharp salute, "Sir!"

"What?" Karou's question broke the tension. There was no urgency in it, no surprise, just a simple query. One which Aoshi answered.

"Your boyfriend, it seems, is Himura Shinta, The Wolf of Mibu. In the Salon Wars the only one who could match him was Battousai."

Karou shook her head, "No. No no no no. His name is Kenshin, he's a foreign exchange student from Scotland. He moved here six months ago. He was only seven when the Salon Wars were going!"

Kenshin looked exceedingly guilty and turned around with his best helpless smile, "Actually Karou they're right. I'm Japanese, I've never even been to Scotland."

She blinked, "But but but, you're still too young! The Wolf of Mibu had to have been at least in his mid twenties! That would mean you'd have to be…"

He blushed, "Thirty four."

He caught a first with his eyeball. "THIRTY FOUR?! You little son of a bitch! You're thirty four? You told me you were seventeen! You lied to me you little red headed bastard!"

"The Wolf of Mibu was also married," Aoshi offered.

"YOU TOLD ME I WAS YOUR FIRST!!!"

As Kenshin's head was repeatedly smashed into the ground, Sano turned to Saitou, who was smoking a cigarette once more, "Umm…"

"Himura-sama doesn't seem to have changed."

At that moment the back door slammed and Sano noticed that Hoji was gone. He shook his head, no point in going after the little turd, he felt sure they'd get another chance to meet. Instead he left the room, there was too much going on in there. Misao was still half conscious, but he wasn't going to go after her. She had Aoshi to take care of her. Everybody seemed to have found their niche in this situation, everybody except him. The whole thing had left him feeling alone and useless. Maybe Hoji was right, maybe he was just a fly. He sat on the hood of the car, watching traffic, and pulled a cigarette out of the pack in his pocket, bringing it to his lips and flicking open his zippo. Then a hand on his shoulder brought his head around, it was Megumi. "Hand me a smoke?"

Sano smirked and handed one to her, then lit first hers, then his. After taking a long drag between pouty lips, she exhaled a plume of smoke and sighed, "That was really something in there."

He nodded, "Yeah." He didn't feel he had much else to say.

"She turned to him then, and shook her head, "You know Rooster Head, if I didn't know you better I'd say you were jealous. Your little girlfriend sure seems to like my fiancee."

"Yeah, well your fiancee sure seems to like my little girlfriend."

The slap knocked the cigarette out of his mouth and she stood up, "Never make jokes about that again."

He stood up and confronted her, "It wasn't a joke you bitch. You know as well as I do what's going on there. So why don't you just admit it and quit acting like the whole world spins to your every wish and desire?"

Megumi spun on her heel and walked away, and despite himself Sano couldn't help but watch her go. Even when she was pissed she moved in a way that Misao could only dream of.

Grumbling under his breath at the audacity of that woman he fished another cigarette out of his pack, but was interrupted in the middle of lighting it. "What was that all about?" This time it was Kenshin, somehow he had managed to get away from Karou, and the red headed man took a seat next to Sano. He wanted to ask Kenshin so many questions, like what this whole thing was about, but they just didn't seem important at the moment.

"You really wanna know?" And Sano told him everything, from first seeing Megumi swimming towards him at the pool, to what he remembered of the night before, waking up nude with Karou, which Kenshin took surprisingly well. And he finished it all off with, "Something happened last night. Something between me and Misao, I know it." He shook his head, "It's just, I can't believe she'd do this, not after last night."

Kenshin nodded, "Well, what happened last night?"

  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: The great shock episode is concluded! Many questions answered, but even more raised as the events of the day come to an end! Who is this leader of The Juppon-Gatana? What connection does Kenshin have to him? What will happen next? What kind of relationship is blossoming between Misao and Aoshi? And does Sano stand a chance of keeping his beloved, or will he instead for the other woman? And most importantly, What Happened Last Night? Find out in our flashback episode: Cherry Blossom Night Part II!


	9. Cherry Blossom Night: Part Two

Disclaimer: I don't own naked Sano or naked Karou or naked Misao or naked Megumi or naked Aoshi or naked Saitou or naked Kenshin or naked Soujiro or naked Yumi or naked anyone else. Well, except naked Me.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction

by

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


She was light in his arms; it was all he could think about. She weighed almost nothing, so small. And warm, God she was warm. Her lips touched his again and he lifted her up, feeling her whole body tighten around him. Muscles he was more used to being kicked with, hit with, suddenly embracing him totally. Her tongue shot into his mouth and he stepped forward, picking her up off the ground, pinning her shoulders to the wall as her legs wrapped around him. He wasn't thinking about where they were, who might see them, he wanted her right then, he wasn't going to wait. She gasped something he didn't hear as he went to kiss her neck, and her whole body quivered against him. "Megumi…"

She stopped, something had changed and in his alcohol laden mind he couldn't understand what. Fog clouded his thoughts and he pulled his head away from her, looking at her face, Misao. His girlfriend. She looked angry for a moment, stricken with a pain that couldn't be described, and then she shook her head, "No, it's nothing. Take me to bed Sano."

It was something, but he couldn't tell what, his head was reeling with too much sake. But she rested her head on his chest, kissed his shoulder through his shirt, and he shifted her in his arms, cradling her like a child. She was so tiny, so fragile. He wanted so bad to protect her, to keep her from harm. Despite his stumbling steps and awkward gait he got her into his bedroom, laid her down on the bedroll, kissed her again.

She was smiling at him, inviting lips and young features. "I love you Sano." He nodded, began to undress her as they progressed into each other's arms. She was so beautiful, so small. "I want you to be mine forever." He didn't say anything, just dropped his lips to her stomach, ran fingers along her ribs, she shivered and squirmed beneath him. "Stay with me Sano. Never leave." He rose up above her, undressed himself and poised over the top of her. Raven black hair, ice blue eyes, she was everything anyone could want, everything he had ever wanted. "Sano, please…" But he stayed there, above her, just looking down and admiring as something foreign swam through the murk of his thoughts.

"Sano I love you, I want you forever." He stopped, pulled away and got to his feet, stumbling back a few steps to lean against the wall. Something was wrong, this wasn't right. "Sano? Sano what's wrong?" He couldn't answer her, he couldn't answer himself. A hand rose to his brow, pushed his hair back, stayed there. It reminded him of something, a headband maybe, staying there like that. He felt her hand on his shoulder, so small, tiny. "Talk to me…" In that moment he knew he had to get away, moving as quickly as he could towards the door, flinging it open and running out through the halls, out into the courtyard.

Misao didn't follow. And he collapsed to his knees, fingers digging into the dirt as he looked down at his own hands. They were so big, so rough and callused, not like hers. Dirt caked under his fingernails and he looked up at the night sky, all but the brightest stars drowned out by the lights of the city. But the moon was bright and half full, staring down at him in pity or gratitude.

In that moment he heard footsteps behind him, slow and steady, then stumbling once. It was Misao, coming to see what was so wrong with him, coming to see why he had left her, why he had forsaken her. "Saaaannoooooo?" It wasn't Misao. He turned his head, watched the woman approaching him stumble into the dirt, climb back to her knees with a giggle. Karou. She made her way to him, neither of them caring that at the moment they were both nude, and she slipped down beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Hey there Sanowanobanofanomano… How are ya?"

He smiled, "I'm okay…" He thought that maybe he wasn't, but the fog of the sake was still fumbling his mind, making things nothing more than a dreamlike haze he'd forget in the morning. "How are you doin'?"

She gave a shrug, the kind of thing that Karou didn't give, when she was uncertain she mocked bravery, she pretended to know what was right, or she forged on ahead without thinking. She never shrugged. "I'm A okay super duper." She gave a thumbs up sign and snuggled into his neck, "You're a gooood guy Sano."

He shrugged, which jostled her head, but she didn't seem to notice, "I dunno. Ya think sho?" His words were slurred and he couldn't think clearly, it didn't bother him though. He felt like if he were thinking clearly none of this would make the slightest bit of sense.

She nodded, "Uh huh. I may call you stupid sometimes, but you're a nice guy." She looked down then, reached a finger out and poked him, he looked down with her and watched himself be poked. "Your ding a ling is hangin' out."

"Yup."

She looked down herself, "Mine is too."

He frowned, "You don' have a ding a ling. You're a girl." He punctuated the sentence with a poke at her breast, which she watched with drunken interest.

"No no no, you know what I mean. My thingy is out."

"What thingy?"

"My thingy!"

He looked down and nodded, "You're right, your thingy is hangin' out."

She nodded solemnly, "Yours is bigger."

"That's cush I'm a guy. Yours goes inside."

"Yup." And with that she stood to her feet and waddled to the side a little ways, looking around the courtyard and then turning back to Sano in a movement that almost tipped her over, "Bye bye Sano's ding a ling!"

Sano waved at her and she wandered off somewhere, leaving him alone again. The dirt underneath him was cold, and it clung to his sweaty skin uncomfortably, so he stood up and looked around. There was a tree over across the courtyard, and he decided to go wandering towards it. When he got there he slumped against the trunk and sank to his butt to stare up at the branches. There were so many leaves up there, all of them beautiful green, veiny, healthy. The purity of nature.

"You're naked." Sano heard the voice and turned around to look at the tree. A talking tree that sounded an awful lot like Aoshi. He poked it a few times and got no response from it. Obviously it only knew how to say one thing and didn't like repeating itself. Then, it spoke again, "You have an eye for Megumi."

Sano frowned at the tree, then sighed, "She's pretty."

"She's spoken for."

He nodded and leaned back against the talk tree, staring up at its leafy branches again, wondering if maybe the leaves were like its mouth or something. "Yeah, I know. But…" He shook his head and sank down, "I don' know. She'sh a real clashy lady." He wiped a hand across his brow and was again reminded of a headband. "I don' think she likesh me though." He fumbled about his chest for a pack of cigarettes, didn't find any. Skin didn't have pockets. "C'n I bum a shmoke tree?"

"I don't smoke."

Sano nodded, "Good idea, it'sh bad for you." The tree moved slightly, he heard a rustling behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Aoshi getting up from behind the tree. The tall, quiet man looked down at Sano, emotionless. Sano pointed at the tree, "You know Aoshi, this tree shounds a lot like you."

The man nodded, "I would suspect it does. Go to bed, I'm sure someone's waiting for you there."

Sano looked back towards the building they were sleeping in, "Megumi?"

"That's up to her." Aoshi didn't have any kind of emotion in his voice as he walked away, dressed the same as he had been during dinner.

Sano watched him go, disappearing behind a building, then after a few moments he stood up and started stumbling towards the building. Would Misao still be in his room? If so then he'd have to go sleep in hers. He didn't want to see her right then, and couldn't explain why. It was just an instinct in his gut that he couldn't get by. "Rooster Head." The words gave him pause and he slowly turned. Megumi was standing in a shaft of moonlight that seemed to have been made especially for her, a shining beauty in her kimono. Sano didn't say anything, he just stood there, looking at her as she walked towards him, then felt her hand on his face. "You're not wearing any clothes."

"That'sh wha the tree told me."

She grinned and leaned forward, putting her forehead to his, lips curling in a smile, "Wanna know a secret Rooster Head?" He shrugged and couldn't help looking down the front of her kimono, eyes sinking deep into her cleavage. He licked his lips somewhat nervously and then looked into her eyes, nodding his head and causing hers to do the same. "I think sometimes you're kinda cute." He felt like replying, but didn't know what to say, caught a slap to the face that sent him reeling to the ground accompanied by her laughter. He rolled over to look up and she sat down on him, straddling his chest, "You're cute sometimes Rooster Head. She leaned down and bit his nose, causing him to yelp out in pain at the sudden assault. Then she lay atop him for what seemed like an eternity, just her head on his chest, like she was listening to his heartbeat.

He thought maybe she had fallen asleep, so he poked her forehead and she snapped at his finger with a smile that made him pull it back quickly. Then she got up and bit his nipple once, again making him yelp in pain, and finally stood up. "Stupid." She kicked him once in the ribs with a smile and walked away into the night, leaving him slightly confused. He was glad he was drunk though, or he definitely would've been trying to figure it out. As it was, he just got up, dusted himself off, and stepped into Misao's room. She was there, passed out face first on the floor, drool collecting around her face. Then he looked up and saw Karou standing precariously on a large bowling trophy, stapling something to the ceiling with a stapler she could have gotten from anywhere but here.

"Hi Karou."

"Heeeeeya Sano!"

He nodded to her and then fell down onto his bedroll and was asleep instantly.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: So the great mystery of The Cherry Blossom Night is finally revealed. This puts more shadows on the relationships of our heros, but does it have any pertinence to the Juppon-Gatana plot at all? Most likely not in the least! But stay tuned next time for the next thrilling chapter: The Wolf of Mibu Strikes!


	10. Love is Fickle

Disclaimer: The title of this chapter has been changed from "The Wolf of Mibu Strikes" to "Love is Fickle" for the purposes of, well… The Wolf of Mibu isn't gonna strike for a while actually. Oh, and by the by, I don't own Ruroni Kenshin or affiliated characters.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of A Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction

By

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"I still love you and there's nothing that's ever going to keep us apart again."

"You know, except for those statutory rape laws."

Knuckles cracked against Sano's jaw and he fell back with a grunt. Karou frowned and turned back to Kenshin, "Why couldn't you tell me earlier? Why did you feel the need to hide your age from me?"

"Because he's a dirty old man." Sano went down again.

The red haired man looked apologetic, his scar almost making him seem even younger than he already looked. "There's a lot in my past I'm not proud of Karou, a lot that I wish had never happened. I'm not the person I was ten years ago."

"Yeah, ten years ago you could probably date women your own age."

Karou spun around, face bright red, a single vein pulsing out in her forehead, "Yeah Sano? And how old is Misao?"

He blushed and frowned, "Hey, that's not the same thing!"

"Why not? You'll go to jail just as quickly as Kenshin will."

"Because… Me and Misao haven't done anything!"

Kenshin blinked, "But Sano, you told me that you and Misao made love five times a week. I think you also said that she could suck a-"

"LIES!!! I never said anything like that! He's a dirty rotten no good bastard is what he is! Trying to pass this all off on me! Pervert! Like I'd ever say anything like that bout my sweet wonderful Misao." He did his best impersonation of being abashed and insulted, but no one seemed to be buying it. "Kenshin's like forty Karou. Get him."

Karou grunted and turned around, heading off towards the back room while Kenshin continued sweeping. The Kamiya Salon had returned back to normal in the two days since the Juppon-Gatana incident had left their group confused and torn. Kenshin was still cleaning the place, Karou was still managing and Sano was still freeloading and smoking in the back alley. It was like nothing had ever happened. The two lovebirds were having a fine and dandy relationship, despite the fact that Kenshin could be Karou's father. Sano could almost believe that the red haired man had never been kidnapped, that he had never met a woman named Megumi.

"You told Kenshin what?"

He blanched a pale white and swallowed slowly as he turned around, "Misao! Honey! How long have you been standing there?"

  
  


The phone rang and Megumi picked it up, "Oniwabanshu."

"I wish to speak with Shinomori Aoshi."

She tilted her head to the side, filing down her nails with her feet up on the desk, "Sorry, Aoshi's out. This is his fiancée, can I help you?"

"I just wanted him to know that he only has six seconds to live, but since he's not there I guess the message is for you. Terribly sorry for the mistake."

Megumi frowned, pulling her feet from the desk, "What the hell are you talking about? Who is this?"

"Just consider this apt revenge for Shishio." The line went dead.

Megumi was on her feet in an instant, glancing around the room, nothing unusual or out of place. Was that just a prank call? Feeling her heart rising up to her throat in panic she rushed out of the room, towards the front door. It was a bomb. One of those Juppon-Gatana had rigged the place to blow. Her legs were pumping as fast as she could get them. How much time left before it went up in flames? Five seconds? Three? Less, she had to get out. The front door loomed before her. Escape, salvation. As fast as she could she threw it open, the morning sun glaring into her eyes, glancing off steel. She froze.

Hoji was there. He was smiling. He was holding a gun.

Megumi tried to move, instinct told her to get back in the building, get back to safety. But her mind was frozen. It wasn't a bomb. It was…

She didn't even hear the shot, just felt the ripping pain as the bullet tore through her chest, annihilating everything in its path. Bone hit, bent, shattered; she could feel it all like slow motion. She glanced down at herself, mouth agape, and watched the blood run from her breast. She touched the wound, and her fingers game back trailing dark red, slick and warm. Then her legs gave out and she tumbled to the ground. Her eyes were wide as she took one more struggling coughing breath, felt the liquid running through her throat, punctured lung, probably worse. Hoji laughed, but it seemed distant, inconsequential. Then she died.

  
  


Sano could barely see, Misao's beating had left him light headed and faint, pain wracking his entire system. But he recognized the figure who stepped through the door anyway, it was hard not to. Tall, blue black hair and eyes that could freeze the sun. Everything about him made Sano want to hit him in the face, his expression, the way he walked like he was part of some distant other world, like he was untouchable. The man walked right by Sano, who was sitting in one of the salon chairs holding a steak to his eye, he barely even gave him a curt nod, "Sagara."

"Prick."

Aoshi didn't respond to that, his expression didn't even change, "I came to speak to The Wolf of Mibu."

"Him and Karou are in the back 'stocking the pantry'. I swear, that girl needs her pantry stocked every ten minutes."

"Miss Misao?"

The way he said it hit a nerve Sano didn't know he still had, shooting up out of the chair and pulling the steak down to reveal his fresh shiner, "Yeah, you gonna be so familiar with her? I'm Sagara, Kenshin's The Wolf of Mibu, but to you my girlfriend merits a first name basis? I think I'm going to have to take offense to that you son of a bitch."

Aoshi stood stock still, arms crossed over his chest. The man seemed to eye Sano up for a second, but it was impossible to tell exactly what this stoic SOB was really thinking. After a few moments though, he seemed ready to act, either to apologize or take offense. Sano hoped to God he would take offense, there was nothing more he wanted to do right then than break that damned pretty nose of his.

"Shinomori-sama?"

The man turned to Misao, who had stepped through the door, Yahiko right behind her. The kid grinned immensely, "Hey, you're the guy that rescued Kenshin right? Awesome! You could take some lessons from him Sano."

If he had been within reach Yahiko would not have lived to see puberty.

Aoshi nodded, "Miss Misao. You are well." It was a statement, not a question. "The Wolf of Mibu, is he in?"

She blushed in a way that made Sano feel wholly inadequate, "Yeah, he's in the back with Karou. Are you here to see him?"

He nodded and it seemed like Misao's heart was about to drop from her chest. Sano couldn't tell whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, though it made him feel like total crap. That damned Aoshi, can't even return the poor girl's feelings, what the hell kind of asshole… Wait. No no no, he was NOT supposed to be rooting for Aoshi. He was very certain of that much. Damn confusing asshole.

"Yes, I want to talk to him about where he was being held. To see if he could remember any of it."

Sano scoffed, "Oh please, what for? We beat those stupid Juppon-Gatana guys, what's he point?"

"The point is, Sagara, hat they are not the type to forget such things as what has happened to them. I still want to know why they kidnapped The Wolf, and what part it is you have played in it."

"No, you want to know about Battousai."

Every head turned to see Kenshin coming out of the back room, Karou right behind him. Kenshin had a seriousness in his eyes that the man seldom ever showed. It was frightening and cunning, Sano could believe this man had once been the famed Wolf of Mibu who had fought in The Salon Wars. The leader of the Shinsengumi. Aoshi didn't seem the least bit distressed about what the red haired man had said, "That too. There's a lot I want to know about this Juppon-Gatana, and you're the only person that can lead me to them."

Kenshin shook his head, "If you want to know more about them, you'd do better just to wait. Those kinds of men hold long grudges and have a taste for revenge."

Aoshi's eyes shifted slightly, to the small woman standing behind Kenshin, "I'm not worried. They can't hurt me."

Karou then stepped forward, coming around her boyfriend and standing strong on her own. Sano hadn't seen her like that in a long time, she really was getting over all of this. He was proud of her. "Don't you have anything you want to protect? Something you care about?"

"The only thing I need to protect is the honor of the Oniwabanshu, and that they can't take from me through weak revenge."

"What about Megumi?" He faltered at her question, for the first time that Sano had ever seen, Aoshi betrayed the slightest bit of emotion. Shame. "Shouldn't she have been the first thing on your mind? You love her don't you? Isn't that more important than your stupid honor?"

"Leave him alone!" The desperate cry left the entire salon completely silent, everyone's eyes on the source, Misao. Her face was red, and a few tears had already begun to well up in her eyes as her hands clenched into tight balls. "Why are you badgering him Karou? Why do you hate him so much?!"

The other girl looked aghast, took a step back. "No Misao, I…"

"Yes! Yes you did! You're trying to hurt him! You want to make him feel guilty! Of course he loves Megumi! How could you even ask that? It's cruel and terrible!"

"No. I didn't mean it like that. Misao please." She pushed past Aoshi towards Misao, she didn't even see it coming. The other girl's fist rocketed forward and took Karou in the cheek, knocking her back to the floor. Kenshin was there in an instant, taking a protective position at her side, glaring a warning at Misao. Karou didn't seem angry at all, she was shocked, silent and unbelieving. "Misao…"

"No! I hate you! Shut up!"

It was sudden, this emotion that had welled up inside of her, Sano could see it already. Like some writer had left out an important part leading up to her outburst. He wanted to go to her, but had the distinct feeling that if he did then he would receive the same treatment Karou had. And it would be a blow that their relationship would not recover from.

So she left in a hustle, storming out the door in a haste that knocked Yahiko over. No one moved for a few seconds, watching as she turned and ran down the sidewalk, out of view. She'd be heading home, Sano thought. Going back to her family, into the open arms of her mother and father probably. Aoshi was the first to move, giving a curt look to the other occupants of the salon and stepping outside, turning in the same direction Misao had gone.

He didn't even realize he had done anything until he heard Karou scream. Looking to his left he saw the mirror on the wall shattered around his fist, glass embedded in his skin and blood pouring from around his knuckles. It didn't hurt. Strange that, though it would definitely be much worse later. Some of those cuts would need stitches, he could already tell. But Megumi was a doctor right? Maybe he could get her to do it.

"Sano?" Kenshin started to approach, but retreated as the taller man spun on him, "What? Are you going to say this is somehow my fault?"

"No. Calm down, we need to get you to a hospital."

She snarled, "Why the hell should I go? It's not like it really fucking matters. Did you see that? Did you FUCKING see that? She doesn't even care about me anymore! It's just Aoshi this and Aoshi that. Well fuck her! I don't need her, it's not like I was in love with her or anything! Those two can go fuck off with whatever they please, not my damn business!" His hand flexed, the movement of the muscles burying the shards deeper into his skin, "I hope they're happy together! I hope they fucking die in each other's arms." As the first of his tears of anger and sadness fell, he heard the gunshots. Three in rapid succession. Bang. Bang. Bang. They had come from outside. From the direction Misao and Aoshi had gone.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: And thus ends us yet another episode of Confessions of a Dangerous Hairstyle. Many questions remain unanswered, but don't they always? There's no room for a rant or preview this time. Just a moment of silence for those who have been lost.

  
  


Next Time: A Moment of Silence


	11. A Moment of Silence

Disclaimer: Don't blame me if the story's gotten dark, blame yourselves for interpreting it that way! It's still a comedy; you're just missing the jokes! And I don't own Kenshin, his buddies, or his skivvies.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of A Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fanfiction

By

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Blood. Everything and everywhere it was just blood. Something had happened, something terrible that she couldn't comprehend. Like the sudden and dreadful bang of a drum it had come. One two. Here's death. Now she was covered in blood, sticky slick, thick and red. Her hands, droplets of it dripped from her fingertips onto the ground, like a final rain come to doom upon the Earth. 

Bang bang. It's all over. 

One two. Nothing left.

Somewhere someone was screaming, maybe it was her, maybe it was someone else. She was transfixed on the blood. Shock and pain. Something else cut through the too thick fog in her mind, a voice she recognized as all too familiar. Her name perhaps? Someone was calling for her. Too late she guessed, so much blood. Falling from her hands. Drip drip. Bang bang. Good bye.

"MISAO!!!" Her head snapped up, it was Aoshi. His eyes burned, an inferno incased in ice, warmth in the frigid recesses of his soul. He was here, but she was gone. It was all over now. Quick as lightning, hadn't even seen it coming. The car had stopped, the window had rolled down.

One two. Bang bang.

His hand struck her face hard, pain ripped across her cheek like a fire through the plains of her mind. The fog lifted in a sudden rush, clarity restored through the force of his hand. That slap had hurt, but it was all that hurt, she felt fine. Her thoughts wrapped themselves around that for a moment and snapped to an immediate conclusion. The blood wasn't hers. "Aoshi-sama!"

He stood over her; his jacket was ruined, pristine white turned red. An explosion of skin and cloth and blood where his shoulder was. His eyes told her all she needed to know, he would be fine. He would always be fine; there was no question about that. "You're not hurt." It was a statement in his same deep voice, like hearing a glacier crawl across the land, deadly cold and eternally steadfast, unstoppable. "Call the others, I need to get back home." Misao nodded and he added quietly, "Megumi will take care of this."

Something she couldn't explain lurched inside of Misao. Megumi. He'd always go back to her wouldn't he?

  
  


Sano was out the door before anyone else could move, but halfway down the street Kenshin had caught up with him, and they both saw Aoshi, a wound on his shoulder bleeding down his clothes, and Misao next to him, looking like she wanted to help support his weight, but didn't know how to go about doing it. "What happened?!" His heart was in his throat; pulse beating in his ears like a rock band that only knew one song.

Misao said something incomprehensible, she looked panicked, and by the way Aoshi was bleeding he couldn't blame her for it. After a few confused outbursts about a car Aoshi answered him much more calmly than Sano would have been able to do in his situation. "The Juppon-Gatana I think. They tried to kill Misao, I got her out of the way."

Anger flooded through Sano, and he was ashamed of it. It was completely irrational, but he couldn't fight it down. I'm the hero. I'm HER hero. Not you with your pretty boy face and you're too cool attitude. You aren't supposed to keep her safe. I am. I AM! Kenshin's hand on his arm eased him for a moment, the red haired man collected in a perfect calmness. "If Misao was the target then it is obvious they mean revenge for Shishio. Aoshi has most likely been targeted as well."

Sano frowned, "Well ya think? Looks like they just about got him doesn't it?"

Violet eyes caught Sano in a dead gaze and he felt the air rush out of his lungs as implications started gnawing at his gut. "Those were meant for Misao, not Aoshi. They wouldn't have expected him here, they would have gone to where he they thought they would find him. They would have gone-" But Sano was already running, and the wounded Aoshi was close at his heels despite his pain. They both had only one thought on their minds. Megumi.

  
  


They didn't arrive on foot, but in Aoshi's car. Sano was driving while Aoshi sat silently in the back seat, Karou's makeshift bandage staunching the blood flow of his wound. They'd have to get him to a hospital pretty soon, but he insisted on seeing Megumi. It didn't seem like he was going to be able to. Parked in front of the front gate was a police car, one officer leaning inside to talk on the police band.

Aoshi was out the door almost as fast as Sano, but his wound slowed him, meaning Sano got there first, and the police officer found himself bent backwards over the hood of his car, his uniform in the grip of a spike haired madman. "What happened?! Where is she? What happened to her?!"

The officer tried to respond, but the constant shaking was keeping him from doing so. But soon Aoshi was there, along with Kenshin, and the smaller red haired man pulled Sano off. "My name is Shinamori Aoshi, I live here. What happened?"

The officer pulled himself straight and tugged down the front of his uniform, running hands over his chest to smooth out the wrinkles. "Shinamori-sama, we had a report of shots fired here about an hour ago. I'm guessing it was a prank call, we haven't found anything to suggest otherwise. My partner is checking with neighbors to see if anyone else heard anything." He gave Sano a wary eye, but the tall man had calmed down some, though he was still itching to get inside.

Aoshi merely nodded, "Thank you for your assistance, if you find out anything please let me know."

The officer nodded and looked at Aoshi's arm for a moment, but seemed to think better of asking about it. The way he talked, the way he walked, it was easy to think of Aoshi as a criminal, Yakuza probably. Sprawling tattoos underneath that big white jacket, a gun hidden beneath its heavy folds. He was a man that you didn't want to ask too many questions about if you wanted to stay in good health.

The compound itself was empty, completely. Everything left in the same neat and tidy order that it had been in the last time Sano had seen it. But there was something missing, and all of them knew what it was. Megumi was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe she went out shopping." Karou suggested, but none of them believed it. They had all heard the cop's story. Shots fired. Something had happened here, something with guns, something with the Juppon-Gatana.

"Aoshi-sama, we should get you to a hospital." A few drops of blood were scattered around the courtyard, proof that Aoshi was in no condition to be doing what he was doing in his state, to be searching for a woman they all knew wasn't here. He nodded finally and headed out the gate, hailed the police officer, whose partner had just arrived. Misao went with him, didn't even give Sano a cursory glance. Fine, go. It's not like I need you anyway.

"We should go too." Sano and Karou turned to Kenshin, the man standing by a tree that had once talked to Sano, though he didn't remember it. "We can do nothing here, but there's somewhere I have to go, someone I have to see."

Karou frowned, "Who?"

"An old man named Hiko. He has an obligation to fulfill, and a debt to repay." When he looked at them Sano realized he wasn't the same Kenshin he had been before the kidnapping. He was The Wolf of Mibu, a name feared and respected in the salon wars. A man of dangerous skill and deadly aptitude. "I believe that now would be the best time for me to call on that debt."

Sano's ball had tightened into a white knuckled fist, "I don't think we have time to go see some old man. We have to find Megumi, if anything's happened to her…"

Karou put her hands on her hips, "Oh, Megumi this, Megumi that. It's like you've completely forgotten about Misao."

He turned his head away, "Doesn't it seem like she's forgotten me?" Driving his point home, the police car at the gate started forward, taking Aoshi and Misao to the nearest hospital. Karou had nothing to say, but Kenshin did.

"This isn't the time for your petty games of the heart Sano. It's time to deal with the Juppon-Gatana. Misao has been shot at once, and Megumi may already be dead. If you don't do something soon you won't have anything left to feel this way about. Put it down for now, you can worry about it after Misao is safe, and to keep her that way we have to visit Hiko."

Sano frowned, "Yeah? And who is this Hiko guy anyway?"

Kenshin's glance changed seeing something so far back in the past that Sano couldn't begin to imagine just how much wisdom and experience was in that young looking body, "Battousai's master… And my own."

  
  


Bright light invaded downwards, a spiraling fracture of intense white that swarmed down through her senses and screamed through the synapses of her brain like a banshee come to torment her soul for the rest of eternity. And something beeped. Unfocused and untrained, her eyes wandered the unfamiliar recesses of her consciousness, her memories. Her father, with his warm smile and large hands, pulling her forward and upward out of bed in time for school. And something beeped. Her first boyfriend, with his strong arms and bushy eyebrows, giving her her first kiss in her room with her parents on the other side of the wall, the fluttering of the butterflies in her stomach as their lips met for the first of many times. And something beeped. The first time she made love, in her apartment during her second year of college. He was a sweet boy she had been seeing for over a month. They had lain down on her couch and soon everything was passion and pain, the warm rush of pleasure while the radio played an old sappy romantic CD she had put on a few minutes before. And something beeped. Then she remembered Aoshi, and the first time they had met, while she was interning at a hospital. Not quite a doctor, but wanting for it so much, trying so hard. He had had a broken arm, said he had fallen down some stairs. He didn't look like the type to fall down stairs. They had started dating soon after, moved in together a few months after that. The night he had proposed had been something completely unexpected, no ritual or ceremony to it. He had said it over dinner the same way he said everything. With casual indifference, like he didn't care if she said yes or no. He had been rich, handsome, kind in his own way, everything you could want in a husband. Of course she had said yes. Then they had made love all night, and she was content as the happiest woman in the world. And something beeped. She could remember the water all around her, swarming through her senses, then she broke free and looked up and there he was. Rooster headed and gape mouthed, watching as she came out of the pool. He was watching her like she was some kind of goddess. Watching her like Aoshi never had. Sagara Sanosuke. She could remember his smile, his voice, and the way his brow furrowed and his nose crinkled just slightly when he was angry. She had though that was the cutest thing in the world, had tried to see it as often as possible. She could remember the way his chest had felt that night when the alcohol had run like a river and everyone had dropped their inhibitions and followed their hearts. She could remember the way her tasted with the sweat on his skin, the way he had looked nude, the moonlight shining across his bare skin. Had she ever looked at Aoshi like that? She guessed she hadn't, she probably never would. There was something about Sano that she couldn't describe. Did she love him? And something beeped.

  
  


"Well?"

The blind man stepped forward, holding in his hands a box that looked like it might have contained some sort of Christmas present if the season had been right. "As you asked, the head of Shinomori.

The figure leaned forward and took the box from the man, watching him take a step backwards, sure of himself despite his blindness, dropping to one knee. The figure smiled, "How nice to have things go perfectly, wouldn't you agree Usuei?"

The blind man grinned a murderer's smile, "Like nothing in the world master."

The figure pulled the bright red ribbon on the top of the box. To: My Lord. From: Your Humble Servant Hoji. So read the card on the lid. Exactly as he had ordered, efficiency made things perfect after all. The lid was tossed aside and there was a ruffling of tissue paper, then silence. For long moments it was dead quiet, and the blind man appeared to be getting very nervous. "Usuei."

"Yes my liege?"

"You tell me that you checked the box yourself."

He nodded and bowed deeper, "Yes sir, it contains the head of Shinomori Aoshi, the man who shamed us."

"IMBICILE!" The blind man's head shot up, eyeless sockets staring forward from behind the blindfold he wore over them.

"What's wrong master?"

The box was thrown, missed its mark and spilled its gruesome contents across the floor. The half bald head of Sadojima Hoji rolled free from inside, a gaping, screaming mouth snapping shut as it rolled over the tile. The eyes were wide with fear, and across his forehead in black ink was a singular message.

Play Nice.

  
  


Half a block away, Hajime Saitou, The Black Wolf Stylist, put out his cigarette with a smile and walked away.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: Lots of things happening all at once in this episode, hope you can keep up because the pace is about to pick up by tenfold. The Juppon-Gatana are now down two members, but with Aoshi injured do the heroes still have a fighting chance? What debts are owed to Kenshin by this mysterious old man Hiko? Will it be a relationship of love or of hate? Everything seems to be falling apart, but who's going to put it back together? As The Darkness comes in to take over for the day, the saga continues next time. Episode Twelve: An Old Man's Sake.


	12. An Old Man's Sake

Disclaimer: All right, some quick points. YES I KNOW IN THE SERIES KENSHIN IS BATTOUSAI!!! He's not in this, deal with it for the love of crikey and stop pointing it out, you're making me cry! The second point? It's been pointed out to my by a contentious viewer that I have been spelling Kaoru's name wrong for pretty much this whole time. Once again, oops. Besides that, on with the show! Oh, and I don't own Ruroni Kenshin, any affiliated characters or a big wide brimmed zebra striped hat.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of A Dangerous Hairstyle:

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan-Fiction

By

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It smelled faintly of urine and hard liquor with the subtle hints of opium and used condoms. Sano frowned terribly and crossed his arms, "What the hell is this place? A crack house or a brothel?"

"A brothel." Kenshin's response was instant and terse, completely unexpected by Sano or Kaoru, who had insisted on coming along despite Kenshin's protests. Sano figured that now she had wished she had been more understanding. The red haired man strode through the hallways of the dilapidated building, the kind of place Sano had crashed a few times, before he had met up with Misao and the others. It gave him some unsavory flashbacks. Their march was accompanied by the booming cadence of headboards against walls and squeaking bedsprings. Sano stole a glance back at Kaoru, who was taking this all much better than he had thought she would. Misao would've been freaking out already.

"Can you tell me more about this Hiko guy we're supposed to be meeting here?" Sano asked as he kicked aside a sake bottle that was filled with something most definitely not sake.

The red haired man shook his head, "Just wait."

Sano didn't have a hell of a lot of choice, so he did what he was told, coming up to a door with a rusty 304 hung on its dirty surface, the 4 upside down. Kenshin knocked twice and was answered by a surprisingly lucid voice from the other side.

"Wait." Inside the room, Sano could hear something he almost recognized. The walls were thin and rat infested, leaving most sounds completely free to hear even from down the hall. There was something wet, a sloshing sound almost that could nearly place, then a sudden gagging cough. Sano blushed despite himself and turned to Kaoru, who had also turned a shade of red that reminded him of a tomato. The door opened and a young woman with bleached blonde hair came out, wiping at her lips with the back of her hand. Kenshin pushed the door open and stepped inside without an invitation. Sano and Kaoru followed, and they were in the presence of Hiko.

  
  


There was a beep. She could almost place it, so familiar to her, but it stayed on the edge of her memories. She half realized the beeping had been her constant companion through this twilight existence she was living, just a dim reflection, a slideshow of her past. Everything came in flashes, still pictures that served to remind her who she was, before it had happened. But what had happened? There was a beep. She couldn't remember, something about a bomb perhaps? No, it wasn't a bomb, she was sure of that. But it had been something violent, had she died? She must have, that's why it was like this. This half conscious surrealist vision of who she used to be. She had died. Being dead wasn't anything like she had pictured it to be. There was a beep. Maybe the beeping was God. No wonder so many books had been written and there were so many interpretations of God. No one was going to believe God was a beep that kept you company in the afterlife. It was very under whelming. No holiness to it, no power she couldn't fathom, just a rhythmic beep. It sounded almost like… Her eyes snapped open, and she stared at the ceiling. There was a beep.

  
  


Hiko was not what Sano had expected. He was a tall man, and not as old as Sano had imagined, though if he had trained Kenshin then he must be at least in his sixties, though he didn't look a day over forty five. He had piercing eyes, accusatory eyes that seemed to judge you even as you stood there before him. He had long black hair done in a ponytail that hung down his back, ratty looking and unkempt, but almost perfectly so. He was big, there was no mistaking that, his bulk dwarfed anyone Sano had ever met before, Hiko looked like a professional bodybuilder perhaps, the kind of guy who spent all of his time in the gym making everyone else feel inadequate. And he wore a cape, exactly not the kind of thing you would expect a man like him to wear, but it fit, pristine white on the outside, blood crimson velvet on the inside. And atop his head, above those deadly eyes and the grim line of his mouth, was a wide brimmed hat, white with black zebra stripes, and a huge artificial red feather jutting out for what seemed like a mile into the air. Sanosuske the Stylist, meet Hiko… The pimp.

"Well if it isn't my good for nothing little girly boy of a student. Haven't you gotten any platform shoes yet shorty?" As he spoke he zipped up his pants, further proving Sano's theory about what those sounds might have been. His room was a perfect replica of American 70s posh galore. Green shag carpet, waterbed, wood paneling, the walls a sickly yellow that somehow made Sano nauseous even when he closed his eyes.

Kenshin merely bowed, "Master, I have come to ask you to repay the debt that is owed to me."

Hiko scoffed and grabbed an open bottle of sake sitting on his triangular coffee table with the fake wooden surface and steel legs. "I don't owe you shit you little runt. I paid that debt off years ago. Now get out of my sight, you smell like rancid fish." He eyed Sano as he poured up the sake, "Probably this bastard. What is he, a fisherman? Your boyfriend I bet. I knew you were a fruit."

Sano growled and tightened his fist, "Hey you son of a bitch, nobody talks about me like that."

Hiko laughed, "Well obviously somebody does you queer son of a bitch. Now back off, I don't do guys."

Sano started to advance, but Kenshin's hand on his chest stopped him. The Wolf of Mibu calmly knelt down on the floor, "Master, this is urgent. Your assistance is dearly required. This unworthy student asks a boon of his glorious master, that you should assist him in his time of need."

Hiko swallowed his Sake calmly and leaned back in the paten leather couch, "Get off your knees unless you plan on sucking me off." Kenshin stood and Hiko glanced past the two of them to look at Kaoru, who was staying by the door. He frowned quite visibly and shot a look to Kenshin. "Lesbian?"

"No."

He nodded and waved at the chairs, "Sit down. I'm tired of you standing there like that, I'm not used to you being taller than me runt." Kenshin merely nodded and took a seat, in one of the plush recliners arranged around the table, Sano followed suit, but Kaoru seemed reluctant to touch anything. Hiko poured himself another drink and looked at Kenshin, "So what's this about anyway? You want fruitcake here to train with me or something?"

Kenshin shook his head, "There's no time for that. This is about Battousai. He's reemerged and seems to be wanting to start The Salon Wars over again."

Hiko shook his head with a grunt, "Battousai this, Wolf that. Don't you two ever call yourselves by name anymore? It's like you pretend you don't even know each other. You have to be willing to accept your past, I told him the same thing."

Kenshin started forward, "Battousai? You saw him? When?"

Hiko shrugged while he finished off his cup and poured himself another, "Two weeks ago. He said something about a Juppon-Gatana. He wanted to recruit me as a member, to 'Help start a new world' he said."

Sano cringed. This was bad; if he was a Juppon-Gatana then they could all be as good as dead by now. Gunmen could be waiting just in the other room, waiting for the signal to come in and finish them all off. Kenshin just nodded solemnly, "What was your reply?"

Hiko swallowed the sake in his cup and tossed the now empty bottle into a pile of them in the corner, "The same reply I'm going to give to you. I'll think about it. Now get out of my apartment."

Again Kenshin nodded and stood up, motioning for Sano and the others to follow, but Sano didn't. Instead he stepped forward and slammed his foot onto the table, "Listen up you drunk son of a bitch, those bastards at the Juppon-Gatana tried to kill my girlfriend, and they've disappeared another of my friends. I don't know who the hell you think you are, treating us like we're less than shit, but I'm about tired of it. If you're not with us, you're against us, and I'd rather not have you as a liability."

Hiko's eyes narrowed, "Liability? That's a pretty big word for such a small little boy." He stood up, easily outweighing Sano by at least fifty pounds of muscle, and glared into his eyes, "Get your feet off my table."

Sano swallowed hard, he hadn't been planning on this, and he had been so angry that he hadn't adequately thought this through. But it was too late to back down now. "What if I don't?"

Hiko smiled and sat back down, "Then I'm going to have to clean my table." Sano felt his temper waver. There was something about this guy he sincerely hated, and there was obviously something dangerous about him. He would've pushed it, to see how far he was going to go, but Kaoru took his arm.

"Come on Sano, let's just go." He frowned and nodded, keeping his eye on the smiling Hiko as they left, Kenshin closing the door behind them.

Hiko's smile widened somewhat, and he heard a groan from the room behind him. And through the paper-thin walls eroded by decades of termites and rats, there was a beep.

  
  


"Aoshi-sama, are you sure you're alright?" The tall man pulled on his jacket without even wincing, though Misao knew his shoulder must have been hurting him terribly. But he ignored the question, which obviously meant that he was feeling well enough to keep going. Misao was worried through, the doctors had said it wasn't serious, it had gone straight through without hitting anything, and had just stitched it up and told him not to have any strenuous use of that arm. Misao had the feeling that he wouldn't be listening to that advice, the same as he wasn't listening to the advice given him to stay in the hospital for at least a day.

"Aoshi-sama, what are we going to do?" He tightened his jacket around his shoulders and looked in the mirror on the door, checking his appearance. 'You're gorgeous,' Misao would have said, if she were braver. It was funny, no one had ever called her a coward before, but now here she was calling herself one for the way she was around Aoshi. Why couldn't she just come out and say things like that? She always had around Sano. This wasn't like her at all.

"Misao, you called for the taxi?"

She nodded; they were heading back to the Oniwabanshu compound to pick up his car. He told her it wasn't safe for her anywhere else. He wanted her to stay there until the Juppon-Gatana had been dealt with. She had asked about her family, and he had told her it was better not to get them involved with any of this. He couldn't protect all of them after all.

They walked out of the hospital room, and Aoshi signed himself out at the nurse's station. Misao wanted desperately to latch onto his good arm, to feel his protective embrace around her, keeping her safe, but she didn't dare. He didn't love her, he was engaged to Megumi. The same Megumi she had wished dead a few hours before in a hurt rage at Sano. She felt so ashamed of that now, and though she knew it wasn't, it still felt like it was her fault that the older woman had disappeared. As they approached the Taxi Aoshi paused in mid step. Misao started to walk by him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her beside him. "Aoshi-sama, what's wrong?"

He ignored her and raised his voice, "Alright, who are you?"

The taxi door opened and a young boy around Misao's age leaned out with a cheerful smile on his face. "Shinomori Aoshi, Makimachi Misao. I've heard oh so much about you. It's really a pleasure to finally meet you in person, though what you did to poor Hoji was a real shame."

Aoshi frowned deeper than he usually did, "I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you?"

The boy's smile never wavered, "How rude of me, I'm sorry. I was just so excited. My name is Soujiro; I'm a member of Juppon-Gatana. It would be a pleasure to challenge you to a duel. But your arm looks like it hurts your terribly. I am afraid I can't reschedule this however. I really hope you don't mind."

Aoshi nodded while Misao looked on, "Alright. It's your funeral."

Soujiro just smiled.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: Have questions been answered? Probably not! But more and more mysteries arise as we stare into the future. Can Aoshi defeat Soujiro the smiling boy, even with his weakened arm? And what part does Hiko have to play in all this? Questions arise and arise while so few are answered. Next time, anticipate the return of Megumi, though in what form I cannot say. But be prepared for anything in the next chapter of Confessions of A Dangerous Hairstyle: Two Masked Faces!


	13. Two Masked Faces

Disclaimer: We might actually be almost halfway done! Or we could be nowhere near finished! Or we could be on the home stretch! I don't know! Aren't you happy? Oh, and I don't own nuthin' but the plot, and not all of that.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Confessions of A Dangerous Hairstyle

A Ruroni Kenshin Fan-Fiction

By

C M Forde

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"Well, what're we going to do now?" Sano leaned against a light pole and began fidgeting with his lighter, trying to get the Zippo to flame, but not having much success. The whole deal with Hiko had proven to be a complete waste of time, and now they were stuck without any sort of lead.

Kaoru sighed and looked at Kenshin, who was apparently deep in thought about something. This whole thing had something to do with Kenshin's past, but none of them were going to ask about it, it didn't seem the right thing to do just then. If he thought they needed to know something, he'd tell them. So Kaoru just shrugged, "I don't know Sano. It's not like we have any leads. I guess we just wait until they come to us again."

The tall man scoffed, "Yeah, that's a wonderful plan. Who's going to get shot this time? You? Maybe Yahiko? I'm not willing to risk that, we have to get them before they get us."

"Maybe they won't come back, maybe they're done."

Sano's cigarette flew into the street and he stepped forward, grabbing the front of her shirt, "Do you really believe that Kaoru? You think that killers like that are just going to leave us alone? They'll keep coming back for revenge until all of us are dead, don't you understand that?" As he screamed he felt a sudden pain in his wrist and he dropped to one knee with a yelp of pain. Kaoru took a step back and Sano looked up at Kenshin, who had a tight grip on his arm and was twisting it backwards.

"This is no time to panic and yell. And the next time you lay a finger on her you won't get it back." The red headed man let go of his arm and Sano jerked back, grabbing at his wrist and rubbing it. Kenshin had never acted like that before. Was this still him? Or was this The Wolf of Mibu talking to him? The stress was apparently getting to everybody, and Sano let it go.

"Yeah, right. Whatever." He was pissed, though he knew he had no reason to be. If Kenshin had done that to Misao Sano would've reacted the same way. But he couldn't help it. He was no good to them all right now. Standing up, he adjusted his jacket and turned away from them. "You guys just sit around doing nothing then, I'm going to go find the Juppon-Gatana and teach them what it means to mess with Sagara Sanosuke."

"Sano wait! We shouldn't split up like this!" Kaoru pleaded, but Sano was already walking away, and Kenshin's hand on her shoulder consoled her somewhat.

"He has to do things on his own, men do sometimes. Let's return to the salon, Sano can take care of himself."

She nodded. Kenshin was right, despite how dumb he could be, Sano could take care of himself, he had done fine on his own before he had met them, no reason to think he'd be any worse off now. But back then he hadn't been hunted by the Juppon-Gatana. When she and Kenshin returned to the salon, what awaited them was a complete surprise.

"Kamiya Kaoru and my beloved Mibu-chan." It was the woman, the one who had been fondling Kenshin when they had rescued him… God, was that really only a day ago? It felt like months. Years in the week since this had all started with Kenshin's kidnapping, so much had happened since then. But the woman Kaoru remembered with a hatred she couldn't name. She giggled then, eyes sparkling and too perfect hair cut short and flared. "Hello Mibu-chan, have you missed me?"

Kenshin frowned and glanced around the salon, but she seemed to be the only one there, the Juppon-Gatana had appeared for the first time with a lone agent. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met."

A sudden fire burned in the woman's eyes and she swept a hand across the counter, styling products flying through the air and scattering across the floor, "Don't play dumb with me you little midget! I know you remember me!" Almost at once though, the cool returned, the smile going back on her features, "I don't believe we've been introduced though Kaoru-chan."

Kaoru just crossed her arms, "Yes we have, you're Slut Girl right?"

The woman just giggled, "Such a dirty mouth to match such an ugly face. It suits you wonderfully." She laughed out loud at the glowering expression on Kaoru's face and leaned heavily on the counter, "My name is Kamitari, and I'm sure you remember my dear friend Usuei."

"Usuei?" Kenshin started to turn, but it was too late, he was gripped tightly in a chokehold by a large man with a blindfold over his eyes, a deviously evil frown across his lips. Despite how he struggled though, Usuei held him tightly, and then gave a sudden sharp squeeze and dropped the unconscious Kenshin to the floor. Usuei just laughed and Kamitari hopped off the counter.

"The master asked me to come pay you a visit Kaoru, after what you and your friends did to poor Hoji I think it was necessary."

Kaoru frowned deliberately and kept her gaze locked on the other woman, despite the fact that she wanted desperately to go to Kenshin and se if he was ok. "Listen up whore, I don't know who you think you're dealing with, but I'm the successor of the Kamiya Salon, and if you know what's good for you, you're going to apologize for even being here and leave before I get really pissed off."

Kamitari cackled and suddenly leapt over the arm rest of one of the styling chairs, daintily crossing one leg over the other and leaning back into the soft cushions, "And if I don't?"

Kaoru's knuckles popped, "Well then, we're going to have some trouble."

  
  


The hair was flying so quickly that Misao couldn't catch all of the movements. Aoshi had seemed fast when he had been styling her hair, impossibly fast, she hadn't even felt his snips and cuts, but that was nothing compared to this kid, this Soujiro who was cutting now. The two men had commandeered a nearby salon and Aoshi had shoved someone badly in need of a cut into one of the styling chairs. They had been going at it for the past two minutes, and it was obvious that Aoshi was losing. He may have stood a chance if not for his injured arm, but Misao doubted it. Soujiro was a blur of movement, his snips and cuts so fast that it was impossible to tell what he had done and hadn't. Aoshi was now just struggling to keep up, fighting his last against the inhuman boy. And through it all, neither of them changed expression, from Aoshi's somber frown to Soujiro's cheerful smile, not a facial muscle moved. It was like watching two men wearing masks; Misao could barely stand it.

"Aoshi-sama, you seem to be falling behind. Would you like to give up now, it would save you much exhaustion." Soujiro seemed genuinely to care about Aoshi, but all of them knew what it would mean if Aoshi gave up now. His life would be forfeit. The Juppon-Gatana were in no way going to let Shinomori's Oniwabanshu survive as competition against them.

Aoshi turned his head and spit onto the floor, sweat pouring down his face and collecting on his lips, forcing him to do so often. And on the arm of his jacket a red stain was swelling again, he had reopened his wound. "I'm not going to lose." Misao didn't believe it, and she thought maybe Aoshi didn't either, but he wasn't going to admit that, not even to himself.

Soujiro sighed and took a step back, tapping his right foot twice on the ground like he had been already, and then rushing forward, his scissors flashing to the subjects hair in a rush of steel that might or might not have happened. The only clue that he had even cut were the tiny strands of hair that floated down past the man's shoulders onto the floor. The boy with the smile tapped his scissors clean and stuck them into the sheathe on his belt. "It's over, I win." The subject's hair was perfect; anything more and it would be overdone. Aoshi had lost.

But the Oniwabanshu master wasn't about to believe that. "Don't be so cocky little boy." His own twin blades moved, one much slower than the other due to the bullet wound in one arm, and he clumsily cut a few more stands, and then with horror watched as one of the blades came back bloody. The subject started screaming and ran out of the salon, clutching at the side of his head, half of his ear lying on the tile floor. Aoshi sank to his knees then, and stared at the piece of flesh.

Soujiro stepped up beside him and patted him on the shoulder, "Don't be sad Aoshi-sama, you tried very hard. I was just better. I am sure that you would have lasted much longer if you had been well." Aoshi said nothing, though he dropped his blades. Then the boy stepped in front of him, "But after what you did to Hoji-sama, I must say that you do have this coming."

After what he had done to Hoji? It had been Saitou who had done that to Hoji, he and Sano, not Aoshi. Aoshi hadn't done anything wrong! Misao's fists tightened into white knuckled balls and she took a step forward, suddenly shoving Soujiro off balance and knocking him into a shelf of shampoo, sending both of them careening into the floor. "You smiling son of a bitch! Who do you think you are?" The boy caught himself as he fell, and stood up among the rolling hair products, his smile never having faltered.

"I am sorry Misao-san, I did not mean to offend. It is just that our leader has asked me to bring Aoshi-sama's head to him, as Hoji-sama's was brought."

Misao frowned, "Hoji's head? You mean hat little weasel is dead?"

This seemed to distress Soujiro somewhat, though he continued smiling, "Do you mean that you did not know of his death? Didn't you tell her Aoshi-sama? Hasn't she wondered how you acquired your wound?"

Aoshi didn't answer, he was still staring at the ear on the floor, so Misao answered for him, "Aoshi got that wound by diving in front of a bullet that was meant for me! Your people tried to gun me down and he saved me!"

Soujiro tilted his head to the side, "Is that why you're still alive Misao-san? I thought they just hadn't gotten to you yet. I wonder who killed Hoji-sama then."" He shrugged, "I will ask when I get back with Aoshi-sama's head. Please excuse me." He grabbed Aoshi's jacket and started to lead him towards the door, but Misao stepped in front of him, barring his exit.

"No you won't. You've still got to deal with me. I won't let you take Aoshi-kun's head."

Soujiro's smile widened somewhat, "Are you challenging me too?"

Misao frowned, "You bet your ass I am."

  
  


He beeping was a heart monitor, now that Megumi was fully conscious she recognized it immediately. But she wasn't in a hospital. Where was she? Upon trying to sit up she felt a searing pain and looked down to see her whole chest wrapped in bandages. Not the most effective way to treat a bullet wound, but effective. Though if she was right whoever had done this would've needed to do major surgery to fix her up completely. Looking to her left she saw a steel tray covered in bloody medical instruments and she figured that's exactly what had happened. On instinct she grabbed the scalpel. Not knowing who had done this, it was better to be armed. "Put that down, you're in no condition to use it." Her eyes shot up to a figure at the door, tall and muscular, wearing of all things a cape and a feathered hat.

"Who are you?" Her breathing came in sudden gasps and it hurt terribly to talk. The bullet must have punctured a lung; well there went all of her swimming for pretty much the rest of her life.

The man stepped forward and took a seat on a wooden stool at the foot of her bed, "Hiko. And you're Takani Megumi, the fiancée of Shinomori Aoshi of the Oniwabanshu."

"How do you know who I am?" She remembered the shot, that louse Hoji had good aim; she should be dead right now. If she was alive it meant that she had been treated on sight and within a matter of seconds. Megumi's eyes narrowed, "You were watching me."

Hiko just shrugged and took a sip of something from a large jug; from the smell it was Sake. "I saved your life. You should consider yourself lucky, it's not a favor I dole out very often."

"Why?"

He shrugged again, "My reasons are my own. Go back to sleep and try to get some rest. If things keep going this way you may be the only one of my idiot student's friends to live through this."

The pain in her chest kept her from shouting, but she did sit up and stare at him with as much menace as she could muster, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your fiancée should be dead by now, and if he is then so is the little girl who's so infatuated with him. My idiot student and his little girl are most likely fighting for their lives in a losing battle. The only one I don't know about is that Sagara."

Her heart jumped, "Sano? What about Sano?"

Hiko smiled for the first time, "That one, I don't know about him. If he keeps acting like a total fool he's not going to live to see the sunrise, but he's got something in him." His smile widened, "I've got my money on him to at least see Battousai before the end. More than I'm willing to say for any of the rest of you."

Megumi wanted to ask more, but the man had left the room, and she couldn't go after him. So she laid back and stared at the half brown ceiling, rotting with age. Aoshi already dead, and Misao. He had probably been talking about Kenshin and Kaoru too. If they were all dead, that just left her with Sano. That damned moron … Her head fell to the side, dark hair drifting over her eyes as she whispered, "You show them what you can do Rooster Head…"

  
  


Sano kicked a bottle down the street, this was useless. What was he supposed to do? Misao was at the hospital with Aoshi, and he had left Kenshin and Kaoru. Meaning what? Meaning he was all alone wandering the streets and just plain being a useless punk. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror and sighed. Even his hair seemed to be falling apart. It wasn't standing up straight, instead insisting on drooping downwards towards the ground. Exactly how he felt at the moment. There was no chance for him to do anything, he should just go back to the salon and apologize.

Something caught his eye, a movement in the reflection of the mirror, a shadow running into an alley behind him. Sano turned, but it was gone. That hadn't just been his imagination had it? It couldn't be. He immediately dove over the guardrail and into the path of an oncoming delivery truck. The grill missed him by inches as he ran, leaping over the hood of a speeding Kia and across the median towards the opposite sidewalk. He just about made it when a passing moped clipped his heel and he went tumbling over the rail onto the sidewalk, his shoe left back in the road, smashed to bits by the traffic. "God Sano, are you turning suicidal now too?" He asked himself.

But then he got up and made his way into the alley, he knew he had seen what he had seen, but the alley was completely empty, except for a dumpster filled with trash up against one of the building walls. "I guess I am going crazy." He turned to walk out, but a voice from overhead called to him.

"You still have that Futai no Kiwami?"

Sano spun around and stared up at the fire escape at the ashen-eyed monk leaning over the rail. "Anji…"

"Sanosuke."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


__________

Author's Note: A few questions answered, and a few more arisen! Don't worry, everything will come together eventually, promise. So concludes this chapter of Confessions of A Dangerous Hairstyle, leaving us with a three-way cliffhanger! Kaoru vs. Kamitari and Usuei, can she possibly win? Misao vs. Soujiro for the life of Aoshi, is there any way that she can save her man? And what of Sano and Anji? Who is this mysterious monk? How does he know Sano, and how does he know of the Futai no Kiwami? Some of these questions answered and probably a few more raised in the next chapter: Girl On Girl Action? Kaoru vs. Kamitari! Place your bets now folks, it's gonna be a knockdown drag out brawl.


	14. Girl on Girl Action?

**Disclaimer: The long awaited and tremendously overdue chapter! Sorry folks, lots of stuff went down, plus I'm a lazy lazy cunt sometimes. Hope you still love me anyway. And if you don't, well.... WHO WANTS MORE NUDITY?!?!?!**

**Oh, and I don't own none of this Kenshin junk.**

**Confessions of A Dangerous Hairstyle**

**A Ruroni Kenshin Fan Fiction**

**by**

**C M Forde**

Kenshin groaned and Kaoru felt her heart drop into her stomach. This was just like that little bastard, always making her come to his rescue. He was laying on the floor behind her, knocked unconscious by the man in the blindfold. But despite how much she wanted to run to him, to see if he was ok, there were other matters she had to attend to first. Namley, the woman sitting in front of her. Short, flared hair that was entirely too perfect, and a smile that Kaoru couldn't help but want to slap off of her face. Kamatari, one of the members of the Juppon-Gatana. The woman giggled, "Poor ugly girl. Do you really think you can win? I'm one of the ten best stylists in Japan. And what are you? Some little girl whose father was a bit player in The Salon Wars."

Kaoru's fist slammed into her palm, "Don't you mention my father you little bitch."

Kamatari put her hands to her cheeks in a mocking gesture, "Oh my oh me, whatever shall I do? The little ugly girl is mad at me. I think she's gonna beat me up. I'm soooooooo scared!" Her face immediately went grave and she snapped her fingers, "Usuei!"

The blind man picked up the prone body of Kenshin and clutched his fragile neck in two meaty paws. "Say the word and The Wolf of Mibu will never breathe again." He squeezed and even though Kenshin was knocked out, Kaoru could see him reflexively gasp for breath.

"Put him down!" Kaoru started to turn, and Usuei squeezed harder.

"Are you going to make me little girl?"

Even as she began to move she felt Kamatari's hand on her shoulder, then was cheek to cheek with the other woman, Kamatari's deep voice whispering in Kaoru's ear, "Don't do anything stupid now Kamiya-chan, we just want to play." Kaoru could feel her grin widen, and caught the flash of a razor blade from the corner of her eye.

"You want to know about my students? You mean little Shinta obviously." Hiko took another drink of sake and leaned back in the chair, the feather in his hat band seemed to be drooping now. Megumi tried to sit up, but the pain in her chest was too much, and she let herself lie back instead. The older man smiled roguishly and stretched one heavily muscled arm over his head for a moment, the gesture accompanied by the sound of popping bones. "He's good, maybe even better than Battousai. But he is also a damn fool."

"How do you mean?"

Hiko shook his head and crossed his arms, "He got involved in The Salon Wars when they started up. He figured he could change the wold I guess. Make a difference to all the little people or some kind of moronic shit like that. I tried to tell him it was stupid, but he wouldn't listen. Always an idealist. So he joined up, took on that stupid Wolf of Mibu title and turned himself into some kind of legend. What a buffoon."

All of that, from that little man with the cross shaped scar. Megumi couldn't believe it. She hadn't known Kenshin long, and she couldn't imagine him being anything more than the troubled kid she had seen tied to that chair with the woman lounging all over him. He looked so... Helpless. Hard to beieve he was actually older than she was, she had been just a little girl during The Salon Wars, and she just vaguely remembered them. "What about the war? What happened?"

Hiko grinned, "Funny, I figured the fiancee of a stylist like Shinomori would know more about it, but I guess you probably weren't involved with stylists much back then. You look more like a banker's daughter." Megumi's breath caught for a moment, how had he known? "Ten years ago there were two clans of stylists in Japan. The Shinsengumi were the older stylists, ones who continued to practice the old ways and the old arts. They were rigid, strict, unforgiving of failure and unwilling to change. Then there were the Meiji, a new kind of stylist that had come up, using new techniques and products, full of young, idealistic kids who wanted to move the country into a new era of hair styling. To tell the truth both of them were pointless. Most of their members were half crazed anyway, more stuck on the idea that the other clan was wrong than that they might be right. It eventually escalated into all out war as stylists from both clans came together to duel to see who was better. Which would have been fine, if it had stopped there. But instead it got out of control. Honor was tossed aside for treachery. The best stylists were targeted and done away with brutally. Arson, beatings... More than a few ended up face down in an alley with a foot of steel in their back.

"Eventually it all came to a head when the leaders of the Meiji and Shinsengumi had a duel of their three best stylists each. Of course Shinta was there, he was my student after all, and stupid or not, anyone using the Hiten Mistsurugi Ryu style was going to be damn good. Well for a week the duels were waged until finally, after it was all said and done, Meiji emerged victorious. They've been the only clan in existence since then, the Shinsengumi having disbanded in shame."

Megumi nodded, "What about The Juppon-Gatana? Are they Shinsengumi?"

Hiko shrugged and took a long swallow from his jug. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sighed, "You'd have to ask them."

"Kaoru!" The voice jerked her glance away from Kamatari and Kaoru gasped as Yahiko came rushing through the door. Within an instant he had spotted Kenshin, and his voice leapt, "Kenshin! What are you doing to him? Put him down!"

Kamatari laughed out loud, "Well, it looks like we have a volunteer."

"I don't know who you are, but if you hurt a hair on Kenshin's head..." The boy was fuming, but Kamatari waved it off with a sigh.

"Heard it before sweety, don't you have anything original to say?"

Karou leapt forward, "Yahiko run! Get out of here now!"

But it was too late, the huge blind man had already grabbed the boy in one hand and with a careless toss sent him into one of the styling chairs. "We're all set up for a duel now." Kamatiari said, "You think you're ready for it little ugly girl? Or do you want to beg for your boyfriend's life?"

Karou had just about had enough of this crazed bitch, and was just about to let her know it in a flurry of words that would have peeled the paint from the walls when Yahiko interrupted. "Karou, who's this dude in the makeup?"

"What?"

Yahiko pointed at Kamatari, "This dude, in the makeup, who is he? Because he's really starting to get on my nerves with that ass shaking thing he's doing."

Kamatari's eyes were wide in shock and Kaoru just looked confused. "Yahiko," she said, pondering the boy's sanity, "That's not a guy."

The boy frowned, "Yes it is you freaking bimbo, he's got a big ass bulge in his kimono that's been getting bigger since I got in here. It's really starting to freak me out and I was wondering what you're doing talking to a freaky pedophile."

Kaoru looked down and sure enough, the woman she was about to fight had popped a tent. Kamatari raged and a straight razor almost seemed to materialize from nowhere in his hand. "You little bastard! I'm gonna cut you up so bad you won't know left from right!"

Yahiko ducked and spun the chair around, the razor deflecting off the steel frame. Kaoru moved then, and grabbed the closest thing to hand, a hair dryer. Yahiko was covering his head with his arms and the drag queen was furiously grabbing the chair, to send him spinning back into striking range. Kaoru had only one shot, and flipped the device onto high heat. Th blast of hot air from the dryer caught Kamatari right in the face and he shrieked before turning on Kaoru and coming for her. The young stylist ducked and the straight razor smashed through the line of styling products on the counter behind her, scattering them all across the floor, many of them cut cleanly in two.

Kaoru turned the hair dryer back onto Kamatari and blew the burning air straight into the man's face from point blank, blinding him and causing him to shriek in an entirely convincingly womanly manner. He jerked back, clutching his face and Kaoru gasped for breath, crouched and ready to move again if the wild razor came for her again. Usuei was still standing over Kenshin's body, watching the whole thing with a calm, bemused smile. He gave Kaoru the creeps. "YOU BITCH!!!"

Kamatari's scream brought her attention back to the man, who was holding his head back and away from her, "What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!?!?!" He turned back and Kaoru gasped out loud. All of the drag queen's perfectly bobbed and waved hair, frilled to movie star good looks and just messy enough to be sexy, had felt the ravages of the hair dryer. It all stood straight up, blown back from his face and on end in every direction. Dark blue and purple highlights which had once been almost imperceptible now stood out blatantly, and now Kamatari's head looked like a rainbow colored zebra that had been struck by lightning.

Yahiko peeked his head above the protection of the chair and stated laughing out loud, "Holy crap! Look at the pedophile's hair! What'd you do, stick a fork into an electrical socket?" He took to both pointing and laughing at the same time, and Kamatari's gaze shifted.

Kaoru started forward, "Yahiko! Look out!" But the cord on the hair dryer caught her up and she almost fell. She wasn't sure if she would have made it in time anyway. The razor was little more than a flash of light as the steel reflected the dim illumination of the flourescent lights in the ceiling. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, Yahiko's eyes widening as the blade came for his head, Kamatari's roar of outrage as his eyes locked onto the boys. Yahiko pulled his arm back and started to duck, Kamatari's aim changed in mid swing, bringing the razor down in a perfect angle with the boy's head. Then the collision and the blade cut away half of Yahikos...

"Hair!" Kamatari took a sudden step back, staggered as he looked at what he had done. Yahiko was heaving for breath, wide eyed and pale as sweat trickled down his brow. His wild frock of hair had been sheared away on one side in a perfectly straight cut. His hair looked almost as hideous as Kamatari's himself. The transvestite stared blindly at what he had done, "No... No that's impossible. It can't... NO!"

Kaoru dropped the hair dryer with a clatter on the ground and strode right up to the chocked man and grabbed him by the front of his kimono. "You see that? You screwed up the subject's hair! You lost! It's over, Kenshin is mine! You hear me?"

"NO!" Kamatari screamed, and started to struggle, but Kaoru had had enough of this bastard. She slammed her right fist into his perfect girlish good looks and spread them generously all over his face. The queen apparently had a glass jaw and slumped down to the ground, unconscious or unwilling to move.

Kaoru immediately went to Yahiko and embraced him tightly, "Oh God, are you ok? He didn't hurt you did he? Yahiko, talk to me."

Yahiko swallowed and shook once, trembling all over, then screamed, "That mother fucking pedophile fucked up my fucking hair!" He pushed Kaoru away from him and stared into a mirror, touching what was left of his mane. "Nonono... This isn't fair, it takes it hours to look like this. Everything just right. No, that fucking son of a fucking fuck fuck. I'm gonna fucking kill him. I'm going to rip his fucking dick off and fuck him with it."

Kaoru backhanded him across the head, "Watch your language! I won't have you talking like that in my salon!"

As Yahiko spun on the girl and began telling her where she could stick her salon, a low grunt from another part of the shop brought both of them spinning. Usuei stood with his arms crossed, that same freaky grin on his face, "You're not done yet children, there's still me. Do you think you can take me as easily as you did Kamatari?" His devilish grin widened and he stepped forward, muscles bulging as he popped his knuckles, "This is going to be a fun game."

"Yes... It is." Usuei stopped and turned. Kenshin stood behind him, in his hand was a pair of scissors, tightly clenched, and his eyes, by some trick of the light, seemed to glow the brightest yellow. The red headed man smiled then, and it was the smile of a predator stalking prey. As he spoke his canines clacked together, the gnashing of teeth and the snapping of bone. "Let's play."

Author's Note: Late and late and late folks, I know. I'd make excuses and explain, but no one wants to hear them! But it is finally here as yet another chapter of Confessions draws to a close. Shorter than usual, but hopefully full of all the action and suspense and humor you've been wanting! And still, no real questions answered, but soon! I promise! With Kamatari defeated all that stands between our heros and safety is one big bald blind guy! Alliteration danger! But with The Wolf of Mibu on their side, can they lose? It's all action and nudity next time with: Duels For Love! Kenshin vs Usuei and Misao vs Soujiro!


End file.
